Benjamin Glorieux
I don't mind switching from Bach's cello Suites or together with the Belgian National Orchestra to a concert with rapper Zwangere Guy. In addition to being a cellist I am a composer to a lesser extent, and a conductor and educator to an even lesser extent. I mainly mean that in terms of how I spend my time, because if I go for something, I tend to.. go for it. As a cool guy from West-Flanders (not my own words), I have a CV in all these capacities with which I could easily fill a few pages here, but I'm not going to do that. It is sometimes said that as the ex-Best Young Promise of the Klara's (Belgiums classical music broadcasting company) I am just about the top of our country when it comes to the instrument called violoncello, also popularly called 'cello' (and pronounced 'siloo' on Klara), but that's relative, such a statement. I would never say that about myself, I mean. I just love music!
For the know-it-all hunters: on my 18th-century cello from northern France I play with a modern stick by Russian maker Vladimir Mukhin and a baroque bow by Belgian Jérôme Gastaldo. My BOSS loop station and Ableton have become second nature, and now and then my electric cello or small spalla sounds, but most of all I love walking, and my family. And more and more often my voice is added. Baritone/tenor + baritone/tenor of the cello, I really like that combination....
Yes, all beginnings are important. Love struck in Harelbeke and Kortrijk. I gave up ballet, for music I took to the Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels, followed by the Conservatoire de Genève. The cherries on the cake? Hochschule für Musik Köln, and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. But once you get into music life, hardly anyone asks about your diplomas. People only ask to be moved, comforted, captivated.
That's what I'm trying to do by creating new sounds with wood that's centuries old, and combining it with today's techniques.
Possibly the best job in the world, right?
