Luc Ponet
Luc Ponet is organist-titularist of the Basilica in Tongeren, organist-in-residence of the Landcommanderij Alden Biesen - the European cultural and congress centre of the Flemish community in Bilzen - and city organist of Leuven. He combines this with an international career as concert organist and as visiting professor (Leuven University College of Arts - Lemmens campus).
As a soloist, he performs at festivals in Europe, Russia, the United States, Mexico, South America, Japan and the Philippines. He forms duos with renowned musicians such as Manu Mellaerts (trumpet, soloist at the National Opera 'de Muntschouwburg' in Brussels), Guido Segers (trumpet, soloist at the Munich Philharmonic), Raphael Leone (flute/piccolo, Wiener Symphoniker), Jean-Pierre Van Hees (bagpipes/musette, Leuven), Alexander Ponet (percussion, Zurich) and is a member of ensembles with diverse often very original line-ups such as The G-Brass Project, with trumpeters Manu Mellaerts (B), Jose Chafer Mompo (E) and Slawek Cichor (P), The Flemish Baroque Trio with soprano Ilse Eerens and trumpeter Manu Mellaerts, and The Moondog Company, with percussionist Alexander Ponet (CH), saxophonist Maarten Vergauwen (B) and double bassist Gabriele Basilico (D). Because of his extensive experience in ensemble and orchestra playing, he is also the regular organist of 'De Munt/La Monnaie', the national opera in Brussels.
Luc Ponet studied successively at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He is a researcher at the University of Leuven, where he is preparing a PhD on the Tongres Organ Manuscript (1626) and the organist's practice in the principality of Liège in the first half of the 17th century.
Since 2012, Luc Ponet has been artistic director of the Bach Academy Alden Biesen, a choir and baroque orchestra specialising in historically informed and inspired performances of music from the 17th and 18th centuries. In 2020, he was appointed artistic director of the Intra Muros Festival for Early Music - Alden Biesen Castle.
Ever since his first solo CDs - "The Organs of the Lemmensinstitute in Leuven" (René Gailly, 1995) and "The Flemish Organ Heritage Volume 1, Ancion organ 1644-46 in the Begijnhof Church in Sint-Truiden" (Naxos, 1997) - Luc Ponet's recordings have received rave reviews. For these recordings, he is always looking for unknown repertoire or manuscripts, which he then performs on the most suitable, most beautiful historic organs in the former county of Loon, in the principality of Liège or in Leuven. Recently, for the CD label Et'cetera, he recorded three CDs that illustrate the practice of organists in Liège and thus the background of French classical organ literature. His recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations on the organ of the Alden Biesen estate is regarded worldwide as one of the most authentic interpretations on the organ.
