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Projects
To maintain a strong connection with the professional music world, the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp organizes numerous high-profile artistic projects annually. These projects often involve collaboration with other disciplines, international partner institutions, or professional organizations.
Students gain valuable opportunities to perform on prestigious stages in Belgium and abroad, such as
- Belgium: De Singel, De Singer, Werkplaats Walter, BOZAR, CC Muze, Hnita, Rataplan, Jazz Middelheim Festival
- The Netherlands: North Sea Jazz Festival, Bimhuis
- Italy: Casa del Jazz Rome
These experiences help students expand their network and strengthen their performing skills.
The jazz department supports students in building networks by organising annual projects in a variety of settings: from solo performances to jazz ensembles, from octets to big bands, and from vocal ensembles to interdisciplinary collaborations.
Concerts are led by experienced teachers or internationally renowned coaches. Performances take place on a variety of stages, both in Belgium and abroad.
Solo and Ensemble Projects
The jazz department offers students diverse ensemble opportunities, from solo performances to big band projects. Highlights include:
Vocal Ensemble: Comprising all voice students, this a cappella ensemble rehearses weekly for the annual Singers Night Concert in May. Voice students can also join other ensemble projects.
Ensemble Lessons: All students receive at least two hours of ensemble lessons per week, with master's students participating in an additional ensemble. Optional courses allow students to join specialized ensembles, such as those focusing on free improvisation or cross-over/contemporary jazz.
Breathing Projects
Advanced ensemble lessons for master's students are centered on the Breathing Projects, which engage internationally renowned jazz musicians for intensive two-week coaching sessions. These culminate in professional performances. Recent leaders include Gregory Hutchinson, Lionel Loueke, Ben Wendel, and Chris Potter.
Upcoming Breathing Projects:
- 21 November 2024: Stéphane Galland @Rataplan
- 12 December 2024: Joelle Leandre @Werkplaats Walter
- 20 December 2024: Jorge Rossi @De Singer
- 7 February 2025: Wolfgang Muthspiel @De Singer
- 27 February 2025: Ben Sluijs and Maud Vanhauwaert @Rataplan
- 27 March 2025: Bo van der Werf @Rataplan
- Annual Jazz Middelheim Festival Collaboration
Cooperation with Jazz Middelheim Festival
Since 2012, jazz students have performed annually at the Jazz Middelheim Festival, led by international coaches such as Mark Turner, Dave Douglas, and Joe Lovano. This collaboration continues to provide unique performance experiences, even after the festival's organizational changes.
Master’s Solo Projects
Each Master 1 student organizes and performs a solo project annually, designed to encourage students to step outside their comfort zones. These projects allow complete artistic freedom in genre, instrumentation, and location, with the only requirement being that the jazz student performs solo.
Interdisciplinary cooperation
Since 2010, the jazz programme has been collaborating interdisciplinarily with programmes such as classical, dance, spoken word and visual arts. This is done in the field of artistic creation and research, for example on injury prevention.
Every year, several projects take place in which jazz and dance students work together. Projects are also set up annually with spoken word students, in which jazz musicians and spoken word artists work together in equal roles. These projects result in one to three concerts on professional stages in Belgium. Accompanists have included Ben Sluijs, Jakob Bro, Maud Vanhauwaert and Lukas Vandervorst.
ContemPLAY: international interdisciplinary project
In cooperation with partners in Vilnius and Porto, the ContemPLAY project offers students the chance to create an interdisciplinary performance during an intensive week in Vilnius. Participants include singers, composers, musicians and artists from various disciplines.
NextDoors: interdisciplinary project week
The annual project week ‘NextDoors’ offers students the chance to explore other disciplines within the Conservatoire. They can participate in interdisciplinary workshops or develop their own projects. The entire conservatoire is open, with support from logistics and technical staff.
Big band
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the jazz department, an international big band was assembled in 2018, with contributions from conservatoires in Amsterdam, Maastricht and the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki). Bert Joris conducted the ensemble, with Joshua Redman as guest soloist. Concerts took place at De Singel, CC Muze and Centre Culturel Virton.
In 2019, DePaul University Chicago joined the collaboration, sending a trumpet student, teacher Chad McCullough and jazz department head Dana Hall to join the Antwerp Jazz Orchestra.
In 2022, the Antwerp Jazz Orchestra returned with a new project led by Chris Potter. Arrangements were written by students of Bert Joris. Concerts took place at Bimhuis Amsterdam, De Singel and CC Het Spoor.
As recently as 2022, the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp entered into a collaboration with Codarts Rotterdam and Hochschule für Musik Köln. This led to the creation of the ARKestra, an international big band with students from these three conservatoires. The ARKestra has already performed twice at the North Sea Jazz Festival under the direction of Ilja Reijngoud. Antwerp students also play regularly in the big band of Hochschule Köln, led by Florian Ross.
International projects
The Antwerp Conservatoire has been a member of the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) since 2018. Every year, two students participate in the IASJ meeting, where they can play together with jazz students from all over the world.
In 2009, the Conservatoire began a collaboration with the Saint Louis College of Music in Rome, inviting an Antwerp student band to perform every year.
In 2021, this cooperation grew into the international project Jazz's Cool, with the participation of conservatoires from Aarhus/Aalborg, Helsinki, The Hague, Krakow and Budapest. Six international ensembles, led by Italian coaches, rehearsed for a week at Saint Louis College of Music and performed at Casa del Jazz. Each ensemble also had the chance to tour with concerts organised by two partner schools.
Masterclasses
Each year, the Conservatoire organises masterclasses to complement the programme curriculum. These sessions focus on both ensembles and specific instrument groups. Recent guest lecturers include John Scofield, Joey Baron, Jakob Bro, Joshua Redman, Mark Turner, Nasheet Waits, Dave Douglas, Magik Malik, Jozef Dumoulin, Jesse van Ruller, Marcin Wasilewski, Aaron Parks, Vijay Ayer, Chris Potter, Billy Hart, Nduduzo Makhathini, Gregory Hutchinson and Ben Wendel.
Music projects
Every year, students organise and perform their own music project. They have full artistic freedom in genre, instrumentation and location. Students are responsible for the organisation, communication and promotion of their project.
Stay informed of planned masterclasses via the calendar or via the newsletter.