Jan de Maeseneer
Jan De Maeseneer, born on 2 October 1986 in Vilvoorde, blew his first notes at the age of 6 in the youth workshop of Brassband Hombeek. He started with the cornet and was taught by Luc van Humbeeck and Michel Leveugle. Later Jan exchanged his cornet for the euphonium. He received lessons from a variety of teachers including Ben van Lombeeck, Luc Vertommen, Ben Haemhouts and André van Driesschen. In 2000 he won the under 14s category of the competition of the Brassband Federation. At the age of 17 Jan decided to study at the Kunsthumaniora in Antwerp where he was taught by Bart van Neyghem, solo tuba player in the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides.
In 2004 he played in the project fanfare band for a theatre production of Het Toneelhuis in collaboration with, among others, Wim Opbrouck. A year later he switched to the tuba. Jan graduated from the Kunsthumaniora in 2006 and in the same year started his higher musical studies at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp, where he was taught by Hendrikjan Renes, solo tuba player of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In this year Jan also became laureate of Axion Classics.
This young musician is also associated with a number of orchestras, both in the Hafabra and in the symphonic world. In 2009 he completed his internship at the Flemish Radio Orchestra (now the Brussels Philharmonic), where he also took part in a number of productions as a freelancer. In 2009 he also played in the occasional brass band of the WDR Radio Orchestra. In 2010 he took part in the newly composed children’s chamber opera "Orphelie" written by Axelle Kennes. In 2010 he also auditioned for the internship in the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra and won it. He completed his internship with great distinction. In 2011 Jan also had the opportunity to play in a number of productions with the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Air Force.
At the end of the academic year 2011 Jan graduated with distinction from the conservatory and may therefore call himself Master of Music.
Since 2012 Jan has been a tuba player with the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Air Force, where he has also held the position of first solo tuba since 2016.
He started composing in 2013. Although Jan is self-taught, his compositions have already been chosen by music publisher BVT-music, where you can find his arrangements.
In 2015 Jan became permanent tuba player with the Ensemble de Cuivres de Belgique, a large brass ensemble consisting of soloists from the various professional orchestras in Belgium. This ensemble gives concerts both at home and abroad.
Conducting is also one of Jan’s great passions. He studied conducting for 5 years, as subsidiary, at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp with Dirk De Caluwé and Steven Verhaert. His interest in conducting became so great that in 2013 he started a course with Hafabra conducting as the main subject at the Lemmens Institute with Ivan Meylemans and Jan van der Roost. In 2016 he completed this study with distinction.
Jan is currently also practising conductor with 3 orchestras: Koninklijke fanfare De Vrije Belgen in Sint-Martens Bodegem, Royal Concert Band Sint-Cecilia Rotselaar and the Leuven Alumni Orchestra.
