Wim Henderickx (✝ 2022) was a composer, percussionist, and composition teacher. He studied composition and percussion at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and sonology at Ircam in Paris and at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. His compositions often used other cultures as their source of inspiration. The use of electronics was a common aspect in his work. Between 2004 and 2010, he worked on the Tantric Cycle, a seven-part composition series based on Eastern philosophy and Buddhism. Requiem, in collaboration with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, premiered at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in 2017. Cello Concerto (Sangita) with Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra premiered at the Cello Biennale Amsterdam 2018.
His work Blossomings for mixed choir, trumpet, and electronics premiered in London with the BBC Singers and received an Estonian premiere at the World Music Days Tallinn 2019 with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Enigma VII was also performed for the first time in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2019 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. Songs of Nature received an online world premiere at the Klarafestival 2021 in Brussels and a live premiere in Shanghai, China.
In May 2022, his opera The Convert (De Bekeerlinge) premiered at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, a co-production with Opéra de Rouen Normandie and Muziektheater Transparant. Since 1996, Wim Henderickx was the house composer at Muziektheater Transparant, and in 2013 he became the Artist-In-Residence at the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. The double-CD (2016) with this orchestra received international acclaim, including five stars in the BBC Music Magazine. His scores are published by Norsk Musikforlag in Oslo. He received several national and international awards, and in 2015 he was appointed a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (KVAB) for Sciences and Arts. He was also nominated for the 'Composer of the Year' award in 2017 by the Norwegian Music Publishers Association.
He taught composition at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and the Conservatoire of Amsterdam and was also the head teacher of the annual summer composition course SoundMine for young composers at Musica, Impulscentrum voor Muziek.
More information can be found at www.wimhenderickx.com
Affiliated at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp as: teacher of Composition, Orchestration, Introduction to Composition, Analysis, Electronic Music (including coordination)
© D. Franssens