Antoon Vandeborght is one of Belgium’s leading guitarists. Awarded in numerous international competitions, he is an exciting performer both as a soloist and in chamber music. Audiences all over the world have much valued his interpretive qualities, his sensibility and mastery, and above all his ability to communicate with the public through his music!
Antoon Vandeborght (1979) started to play the guitar at the age of ten under the guidance of Geert Claessens at the Music Academy of Tienen. He continued with his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Albert Sundermann and at the Lemmensinstituut (Leuven) with Roland Broux and Raphaella Smits, where he obtained his Master’s degree in Guitar and in Chamber Music. Then he specialized further with Zoran Dukič at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague (Netherlands). Throughout his studies his musical development was also influenced by the personal contacts with David Russell and Carlo Marchione, as well as by participating in master classes with Leo Brouwer, Hopkinson Smith, Ricardo Gallén, Alberto Ponce, Manuel Barrueco, Carlo Domeniconi, …
Antoon has been awarded the first prize in 16 national and international competitions, among them the Guitar Competitions 'Andrés Segovia' in Linares (Spain) and ‘José Tomás - Villa de Petrer’ (Spain). Additionally, he has received several audience awards and won the prize for the best interpretation of Spanish music in Torrent (Spain).
Since then, he has been regularly invited to perform as a soloist and to give master classes all over the world. His tours have taken him to Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil and the US, among others.
Antoon Vandeborght is not only a passionate soloist, but he also attaches great importance to chamber music. In 2001 he co-founded the Koa Guitar Quartet, which won second prize in the chamber music competition of the Rotary in Ghent in 2003 and in 2005 they released the album ‘KOA’ with postmodern chamber music. Since 2015 Antoon forms a duo with the South Korean guitarist Heejoo Kim.
Besides his love for performing, Antoon Vandeborght is also devoted to sharing his knowledge and experience with others. Since 2001 he teaches guitar and chamber music at the Music Conservatory of Leuven and at the Music Academy of Tienen. Starting in 2007 he has been co-developing the guitar method ‘Guitar Horizon’ aimed at the young guitarists.