KEYBOARD WORKS, PT. 1

Last centuries, the piano became the ultimate keyboard instrument. Its sophisticated mechanism and unique sound offer countless artistic possibilities. From the end of the 18th century, the first pianists mastered many possible ways to play and explore this instrument, running up and down the keys with elegant and complicated exercises, finding new harmonies and new textures, and bringing it all to an acrobatic level. Apart from playing common repertoire, these pianists improvised, created and performed their own pieces. This tradition has been mostly disappeared in the 20th century.

This CD recording is part of an academic research at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, with the aim of reviving the tradition of combining creation and performance but with contemporary aesthetics.

Jeroen Malaise (°1971, Antwerp, Belgium) is a pianist-composer and teacher at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. He mainly focuses on contemporary music experience and has a fascination for various traditions and different forms of improvisation. His interests span a wide spectrum of music genres, from classical to jazz and from traditional to popular music.

Jeroen played various keyboard instruments from an early age including clavichord, harpsichord and piano. He studied with Jan Vermeulen, Jacques Detiège, Remy Syrier, Wim Henderickx, Luc Van Hove and graduated for master and bachelor degrees with the highest and great distinctions for piano, harpsichord and composition. For baroque and classical improvisation he took lessons with Ewald Demeyere, jazz piano lessons with Christoph Erbstösser.

Jeroen performed with various productions in most European countries and different continents, and was a guest at Beijing Music Festival, Royal Opera House London, National Arts Center Ottawa, Wiener Konzerthaus, Cage Festival Amsterdam, Ligeti Festival Amsterdam, RomaEurope festival, Kunming Spring Festival, Les Coups de Theâtre Montreal, etc. He won several national and international awards.

At the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp he teaches improvisation and practical harmony to the students of the piano department and he is the principal teacher of artistic graduation projects and entrepreneurship of master’s students. He teaches piano at the Music Academy Borgerhout.

Karel Stulens (*1997) is a Ghent-based composer of new arts and music. His works range from orchestral and chamber works, mainly with performative and multi-media components, to interactive video’s.

All compositions by Jeroen Malaise, except 6 Digital Snippets by Karel Stulens. 6 Digital Snippets commissioned by Jeroen Malaise as a sequel to, and with audio samples of the 6 Etudes.