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Applause academic year 2024-2025

Lead and supporting roles, debut and compilation albums, finals, beginner's luck and career awards ... here you can read who received recent applause and why in academic year 2024-2025.

  • Former Conservatoire artistic director Robert Groslot was awarded the Cultural Merit Prize by the city of Mechelen. A host of teachers participated in the ceremony.
  • Former director Stefaan De Ruyck wrote a book about his life and work. It also contains a beautiful letter to the students of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. The book is called ‘A fixed-term contract’.

Jazz

  • Miel De Koninck, piano student within the jazz course, is invited as Artist in Residence for the new concert season at the Singer in Rijkevorsel in August.
  • New record by AKI! The long-awaited album 'Het Tij' by alumna jazz drums Anke Verslype and her band was unleashed on the world. Knack went to see her.
  • Lennert Baerts, alumnus and teacher of Jazz composed the music for ‘Part of Virtues’, a themed walk in the MSK in Ghent.
  • Alumna sax Hanne De Backer recently joined the Jakob Bro Large Ensemble. Besides Jakob Bro, the ensemble includes many big names from the jazz scene.
  • Alumnus Jeroen Reggers released the album Ten Years from Now, with contributions by alumnus Gert-Jan Dreessen and teacher Nicolas Thys. The album was rated four stars in De Standaard. 
  • New work by Otto Kint, double bass alumnus! He made the album Wildernis with his band Otto Kintet.
  • Anaïs Vijgen, vocal studies alumna, releases a self-titled debut album with her band Equi. There too: nothing but rave reviews and a great interview in Jazz&Mo. 
  • Teacher Nic Thys and alumnus Willem Heylen also release new work with Cinema Paradiso. The album is called Empty Empty.
  • A whole host of alumni on Two Days in August, I H8 Camera's latest album, which they recorded with Roland: Elko Blijweert, alumnus guitar, Joris Caluwaerts, alumnus piano, Jeroen Stevens, alumnus percussion, Hannes D'Hoine, alumnus double bass.
  • De Standaard gave “Unfinished Business”, a band consisting entirely of our jazz alumni, four stars for their album by the same name.
  • It’s always nice to see a familiar face on Klara’s “De Twintigers” (The Twenties). Anaïs Vijgen graduated from our jazz singing programme last year and has now made her mark on Klara Radio. High time to add “Equi” to your playlist!
  • Jazz Middelheim was back, and our teachers, alumni and lecturers couldn't miss it. Shout out to the three jazz saxophone students who took to the stage: Fons van Aerschot, Bolster de Koster and Charel Maes.

Classical Music

  • Vocal studies student Phaedra Pribilla wins first prize in the Lunigiana Music Festival in July.
  • Early September, teacher Korneel Bernolet snags the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritit for his latest solo album ENSUITE.
  • Master students Elizabeth Salerno, Erica Tuik-Vogel and Ana Mondéjar Amat sweep away all the podium places at The National Flute Association piccolo artist competition in Texas, USA in August.
  • Alumnus Leander Carlier won the ARIA singing competition on Dutch national television. Omroep MAX awarded him the best new opera singer in the Netherlands. 
  • Lotte De Munck (master student Violin) has a chance of winning the Future Test Award with her creative project Street Chronicles. In April, we will know whether she, together with her interdisciplinary team Chimaera, will win the prize.
  • Daiga Korolonoka from Aldo Baerten's flute class pulled the sheet in the flute audition for the Liepaja Orchestra!
  • INNER LIFE premiered in September. It was Wim Henderickx's last composition, finished by Diederik Glorieux and performed by many teachers and students.
    Amelia Grenda was chosen as second Flute and picollo in the Sinfonia Baltica Slutsk in Poland. 
  • Flute teacher Aldo Baerten will play a concert series alongside pianist Marco Mantovani, and this at the invitation of the Wu Promotion Agency (China).
  • Flute teacher Peter Verhoyen became a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for science and arts.
  • Yungshang Bao, Marimba alumnus, won first prize in the solo category in the Universal Marimba Competition Belgium 2024.
  • Beyond Tradition, the creative project by alumnus Bernardo Beirão and colleague/alumna Maria Leiva Sepùlveda, among others, was selected for the semi-final of the Supernova competition. 
  • Marimba students Yungshang Bao and Mario Mascolo snatched first and second prizes at the Universal Marimba Competition. Bao came first in the Marimba Solo category. In the Marimba Duo category, he and Mascolo took second place. 
  • Nikolina Ciffera, Flute student, won 3rd prize at the Papandopulo Competition.
  • Bea Sánchez, Itay Shamir and Andrea Moby Røreng, Piccolo master students at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, won first, second and third prizes respectively at the Kujala International Piccolo Competition, organised by the Chicago Flute Club.
  • Iria Pérez Salgueiro, bassoon student, has won an academy position at the Nova Orchester Wien. 
  • Sarah Miller, Piccolo Master student, has successfully passed her trial as Principal Piccolo with the La Monnaie/De Munt Opera Orchestra in Brussels. 
  • Itay Shamir has secured a one-year contract as principal piccolo with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker.
  • Gitte Bongaers, master's student piccolo, won the audition for the Orchestra Academy of the Muntschouwburg & National Orchestra of Belgium.
  • On 21 June, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra performed works by three alumni, namely Daniel Sternefeld, Denise Tolkowsky and Erik Desimpelaere. The performers also come from this institution: the soloist in Tolkowsky's Piano Concerto (1958) was Wouter Valvekens and Karel Deseure conducted. In addition, the score of Tolkowsky's concerto, which existed only in manuscript form, was edited by Stijn Saveniers, on assignment from the Study Centre for Flemish Music. The concert was preceded by a symposium on Jewish composers in Antwerp around World War II, with speakers Herman Van Goethem and Jan Dewilde.
  • More wonderful news from the piccolo class: Gitte Bongaers, Maria Leiva Sepúlveda, Itay Shamir and Meadhbh Ní Ruairc have all been selected for the final of the Concorso Severino Gazzelloni in Naples! We will find out how it ends on 26 September.

Drama

  • Winter De Cock, Media, Writing & Performance Art student is nominated for the NTR Podcast Prize at the end of August. A week later, she cashes in her nomination and also wins the audience award with her audio story ‘(womb) mother’.
  • Club Satteliet, the collective that includes Drama alumna Elaine Hakkaert, premieres ‘Tradwives, the musical’ in September in De Kleine Komedie in Amsterdam.
  • Interdisciplinarity among alumni! Richard R. He and Lieke Oolders, each drawing on their own expertise, created the musical theatre production ‘ Egel’. Premiering on 8 March in c o r s o!  
  • Poet and writer and teacher Maud Vanhauwaert receives the Prince's Prize. She is the best word artist in the Dutch language area. Her reading about the friendship between a Flemish and a Dutch woman received the most votes from the Prince members. 
  • Former teacher Phara de Aguirre receives the 24th Maestro Honoris Causa during the Night of the Maestro by Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and Bolster vzw.
  • Tiemen Hiemstra, Media, writing and performance art alumnus, made it to the shortlist of the Bronze Owl 2024 with his novel W.
  • Several students and recent graduates from Music&Creation have released new singles. They can all be discovered on Spotify.
  • Teacher Lara Taveirne's book WOLF has been longlisted for the Libris Literature Prize! 
  • Chanou Mekenkamp's master's performance, 'ULRIKE, en de wind van het westen' (ULRIKE, and the wind from the west) has been selected for Theater Aan Zee! Also on the programme: Meeuw (with students Yousra Boukantar and Francis Geeraerts), My Body As a Commodity (by alumna Anne-Laure Vandeputte), Cézanne (the band around alumna Cézanne Van de Voorde), En ik ben Bet en Aag (by alumna Esther van der Wel), Lil Alia (the band around alumna Linde Notenbaert) and much more! View the full programme.
  • The podcast created by Emma Van Haaster for her master performance 'Mijn naam is Haas' was nominated for the NTR Podcast award. Don't forget to vote. ;-) 

Dance

  • Alumna Dance Sandrine Wouters was asked to develop a new choreography for the Ensor Night at KMSKA on 21 November. She is happy to rise to that challenge! We are looking forward to the result. 
  • Praise everywhere for alumna Bachelor Dance Kika Ilegems and her father and guest lecturer Drama Herwig Ilegems. Kika reworked her graduation project into the full-fledged performance Once and the critics are very enthusiastic.
  • During the fourth edition of PLATEAU25, Jenneke Slaets showed her impressive installation performance Blur XL, a rework of her master project. In this six-hour performance, nine dancers explored the boundaries of movement and time. A powerful artistic step after her Master's Degree in Dance!