History
Coming from three very different backgrounds – a dream childhood in Peru, a despairing coming-of-age in the Flemish countryside and countless voyages to breathtaking wonders of nature – Marco Antonio Mazzini, Peter Verdonck and Ward De Vleeschhouwer met each other in the heart of Ghent, Belgium. Between the buzzing walls of Belgium’s Royal Conservatoire of Music, these three musician-composers discovered a shared fascination for experimenting and making music with a range of sounds in different genres. They also shared the ambition to perform their music (including their own compositions) all over the world. Music is a world language: this could be their motto. The Thelema Trio was born from these shared passions. The music of the Thelema Trio will take you on a journey through different worlds, times and emotions. This is what gives the ensemble its incredibly rich timbre. One minute the Thelema Trio will intrigue you with intimate, understated pieces, and the next it will surprise you with exuberant, extravert compositions.
The Thelema Trio started with three graduates of the Ghent Conservatoire, where they studied chamber music with Marcel Lequeux, Filip Rathé (Spectra Ensemble) and John Whitelaw. Ward de Vleeschouwer, Peter Verdonck and Marco Mazzini have been performing together as Thelema Trio since March 2003.
In their first year, they toured all over Belgium and the Netherlands, then performed in Cittá Della Pieve in Italy in August 2004 at the invitation of composer Luca Vanneschi, to perform a work he had composed especially for them. In October and November 2004, they toured the west coast of Peru. The Universidad San Marcos in Lima had invited the ensemble for concerts, master classes and lectures in Lima, Trujillo, Arequipa and Chiclayo. They performed a number of concerts in these cities and worked with local musicians and composers.
In July 2005 they gave a concert at the International Clarinet Festival 2005 in Tama, Tokyo. They followed this with an extensive tour of the US in October in Greensboro, North-Carolina, Birmingham, Alabama, Monsmouth and Portland, Oregon, where they were invited by the American Society Of Composers to perform American and Belgian work. This tour was completed with another week of concerts in Peru, South-America.
The following summer in 2006 was entirely dedicated to the recording and mixing of their first album, simply called “T H E L E M A…” On this disc the trio has selected a number of compositions that had been written for them exclusively and that had been played throughout the previous years. “T H E L E M A…” was released with a prestigious concert in Ghent in April 2007 with the kind support of the Flemish authorities. After the recordings of this album in 2006, Thelema Trio was invited as exclusive guest ensemble at Annual New Music & Art festival in Bowling Green, Ohio, US.
In March 2008 they had an extensive tour in the US, playing in universities and festivals of Missouri, Wisconsin and Ohio. Beside those concerts they recorded a second full CD in the University of Missouri with only New American Music, entitled “Neither From Nor Towards…” after the wonderful piece by composer Eric Honour, who also engineered this recording. This album was released in November 2009, again with a concert in Ghent which hosted a large audience for the trio. Innova Recordings released the CD worldwide in Spring 2010.
The year 2010 marked a turning point in the career of this ensemble. Original clarinettist and founding member Marco Antonio Mazzini decided to leave Belgium again for his home country Peru. His departure from the trio left an open position in the trio, which was filled by Belgian clarinettist Rik De Geyter. In September 2010 he performed his first concert with Thelema Trio in the Netherlands in a very beautiful venue in the Dutch country on an evening dedicated to the music of Ellen Lindquist. In November 2010 the trio again toured the US to promote the “Neither From Nor Towards…” album.
Kris Defoort is a Belgian avant-garde jazz pianist and composer. He was born on 30 November 1959 in Bruges. He also teaches at the Brussels conservatory. His brother is Bart Defoort.
Stella Chiweshe is a Zimbabwean musician. She is internationally known for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. She is one of the few female players of the instrument, which she learned to play from 1966 to 1969 when even fewer females played the instrument.
Harry Sparnaay was a noted Dutch bass clarinetist, composer, and teacher.
Tim Kliphuis is a Dutch violinist renowned for mixing gypsy jazz with classical and folk music.
Wim Henderickx[wɪm ˈɦɛndərɪks] is a Belgian composer of Contemporary classical music based in Antwerp.
Michael Oesterle is a German-born Canadian composer currently living in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, Canada. His compositions have been performed by classical ensembles throughout Canada and internationally.
Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor.
Novalima is a Peruvian band. Novalima's style blends Afro-Peruvian music with Electronica, Latin American beats and other contemporary genres.
Jimmy López is a classical music composer from Lima, Peru. He has won several international awards and pieces composed by him have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Gewandhaus Leipzig, and during the 2010 Youth Olympic games in Singapore. His music has been featured in numerous festivals, including Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Darmstadt International Course for New Music, and Donaueschingen Music Festival.
Stafford James is an American double-bassist and composer.
Scottish Ensemble is a professional string orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland and led by Artistic Director and violinist Jonathan Morton.
André Ristic is a Canadian composer, pianist, accordion player, and music theorist. He has won several awards, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2000 for his work Catalogue de bombes occidentales, the Prix Opus for Composer of the Year in 2002, and the Prix Québec-Flandre in 2003.
Marco Antonio Mazzini is a Peruvian clarinetist.
Steven Gellman is a Canadian composer and pianist. He has been commissioned to write works for the Besançon International Music Festival, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, McGill University, Musica Camerata, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra, the Pierrot Ensemble, the Stratford Festival, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. Since 1976 he has taught music composition and theory at the University of Ottawa.
Luca Luciano is a clarinettist, a composer and an educator currently based in London (UK). He has held the position of clarinet professor at the Leeds College of Music in the UK, he is a specialist of both classical and improvised music and his research focuses on extended techniques, unconventional sound production, sound effects and new compositions for solo clarinet.
The New Zealand Chamber Soloists (NZCS), are a New Zealand based chamber music ensemble. The NZCS consists of prominent concerto soloists with national and international careers and extensive chamber music experience. The core of the ensemble is the piano trio consisting of New Zealand pianist, Katherine Austin, American-born cellist, James Tennant and violinist, Lara Hall. Other collaborators have included David Griffiths (composer) and baritone, clarinettist, Peter Scholes and harpsichord specialist, Rachel Griffith-Hughes.
Reinbert de Leeuw was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer.
Stefan Prins is a Belgian composer and performer.
Tony Overwater is a Dutch jazz bassist and composer of jazz and improvisational music. In 2002 he received the Boy Edgar Award, the most important jazz award in The Netherlands. Presently, Overwater is mainly active in a crossover of jazz, Arab and early music.
The David Orlowsky Trio was a German music ensemble founded in 1997 and disbanded in 2019.
