Benny Wiame
Benny Wiame received his first music lessons at the age of ten on the flugel horn, in the local fanfare. Very soon it became apparent that he was musically gifted, and at the age of fifteen he moved to the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, after which he went on to study trumpet (with Jerome De Brouwer) and chamber music at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels.
In 1984 he was appointed solo trumpet with the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1992 he moved to the renowned Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra ( chief conductor: Valery Gergiev ) where he served as solo trumpet until 1997. Benny Wiame is currently solo-trumpet player with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra (Maastricht).
Since 1994 he has been teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, where his trumpetclass is regarded as one of the finest of Belgium and The Netherlands. Former students of Benny Wiame won prizes at international competitions (Jeroen Berwaerts: second place Concours International Maurice André, third place International Trumpet Competition in Prague) and were selected for the finest of youth orchestras, such as the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. Since 2000 Benny also teaches at the Conservatory of Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Benny Wiame is renowned for his musical versatility; he performs effortlessly on the trumpet, piccolo trumpet, cornet and flugel horn in any style of music. He plays Bach, Mahler, Sparke or Harry James with equal enthusiasm, making him a much sought after soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras.
He has performed as a soloist with the following ensembles: the B.R.T.N. Filharmonic Orchestra (cond. F. Huybrechts), I Fiamminghi (cond. Rudolf Werthen), L'Arco Musicale (Dirk Brossé), the Royal Flanders Philh. Orchestra (cond. J. Mercier & A. Vandernoot), Collegium Instrumentale Brugense (cond. Patrick Peire), Il Novecento (cond. Robert Groslot), the Walter Boeykens Ensemble, the Rotterdam Philh. Orchestra (cond. Gennady Rozhdestvensky) and the Israël Chamber Orchestra (cond. Arie Lipsky).
He has also played with world famous conductors, such as Bernard Haitink, Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Sanderling and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
In 1997 he gave a number of masterclasses and recitals in South Korea (Che-Ju).
Benny Wiame has been associated with Brass Band Midden-Brabant as a conductor since 1992. From 1997 until 2000 he conducted Brass Band Limburg in the Netherlands; recently Benny left this band to become conductor of Brass Band Schoonhoven, The Netherlands.
Jan Van der Roost
Jan Van der Roost received his musical education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp. He obtained degrees in music reading, harmonics, counterpoint, trombone, music history, fugue, choir direction and composition.
He currently teaches at the Lemmens Institute (counterpoint & fugue) and conducts the wind band of the Institute.
As a composer, he is active in many areas: he has composed some 50-odd pieces which have received a very positive reception internationally (his music has been performed and recorded in more than 30 countries). Besides pieces for symphonic orchestra, string orchestra, choir, piano, numerous solo-instruments and diverse small ensembles, he has composed over 25 pieces for wind bands, very different in character and style. A number of these titles can be found in the repertoires of some of the best-known bands in the world, such as The Black Dyke Band and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Ensemble.
