BIOGRAPHY OF WIM HENDERICKX

Wim Henderickx (1962-2022) was a Belgian composer. He studied composition and percussion at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and sonology at IRCAM in Paris and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

Compositions

His compositions often drew inspiration from other cultures. He wrote works for opera, music theatre, orchestra, choir, wind orchestra, and chamber music. Electronics often play a significant role in his work. Between 2004 and 2010, he worked on his Tantric Cycle. Commissioned by the Queen Elisabeth Competition, he composed Canzone for voice and piano for the semi-finals in 2008. In 2016, Blossomings for choir, trumpet, and electronics premiered in London with the BBC Singers, Marco Blaauw, and conductor Martyn Brabbins. He created Requiem for Opera Ballet Flanders in 2017 in collaboration with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. The Cello Concerto (Sangita) premiered with Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam, and Enigma VII for orchestra premiered at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2019. Songs of Nature had an online world premiere at the Klarafestival 2021, a live premiere in Shanghai, China, and in 2022 this production won the Chinese GanLan Art Award. In May 2022, his opera The Convert (De bekeerlinge) premiered at Opera Ballet Flanders and became the most successful contemporary production in this opera house in more than 20 years.

Artist in residence

He was a resident artist at Muziektheater Transparant since 1996 and in 2013, he also became an artist in residence with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

Full CDs

In 1999, the 3 Ragas were released on CD with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (then known as deFilharmonie) under the direction of Grant Llewellyn. The CD Tejas & other orchestral works was recorded with this orchestra under the direction of Martyn Brabbins in 2011. The full CDs Disappearing in Light (2011) and Triptych (2015) were created in collaboration with the HERMESensemble and Jorrit Tamminga (electronics). In March 2016, a double CD with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra had an international release, featuring Symphony No.1, Groove! and the solo + orchestra version of Empty Mind I. In 2018, Boho Strings and conductor David Ramael recorded the Nostalgia CD with five of Wim Henderickx's works for string orchestra. Revelations was released in 2021 with the HERMESensemble, the Flemish Radio Choir, soprano Lore Binon, and Muziektheater Transparant.

Publisher

His scores are published by Norsk Musikkforlag, Oslo.

Teaching

Wim Henderickx taught composition at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Since 2000, he was also the principal instructor of the annual SoundMine summer composition course for young composers at Musica.

Musical assistants

Diederik Glorieux was Wim's musical assistant for twenty-one years, and since 2004, Jorrit Tamminga developed the electronics for Wim's compositions. Diederik and Jorrit were also Wim's regular co-instructors at the annual SoundMine composition course at Musica. This course continues, still in collaboration with, among others, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, HERMESensemble, and the Flemish Radio Choir. Wim's wife, Bea Steylaerts, has been his business and practical right hand since 2004.

Prizes

He received the Flanders-Quebec Award (1993) and the Eugène Baie Prize (1999). In 2002, he was named a Laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, followed by a nomination for the Flemish Culture Awards in 2006, and in 2011 he received the Lifetime Achievement Cultural Award in his hometown of Lier. In 2015, he was appointed as a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (KVAB) for Sciences and Arts. He was nominated for the 'Composer of the Year' award in 2017 by the Association of Norwegian Music Publishers in the Classical/Contemporary Music category.

More information at www.wimhenderickx.com or Norsk Musikkforlag | Notebutikken.