Wim Henderickx,
who was he?
Wim Henderickx (1962-2022) was one of the most prominent Belgian composers/artists of his generation.
Education
Wim trained as a composer, percussionist and conductor at the Royal Antwerp Conservatoire in the early 1980s. He attended the “Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik” in Darmstadt and studied sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and IRCAM in Paris.
Reputation and artist residencies
With an oeuvre of more than two hundred compositions, performed all over the world, he gained an exceptional international reputation.
Henderickx composed for a wide range of instruments, from solo instruments and various ensembles to symphony orchestras, musical theatre and opera. He collaborated with national and international partners and organisations. Many of his works were created during his residencies at Muziektheater Transparant, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the HERMESensemble, and his activities extended far beyond the Belgian music scene.
Performer
Wim Henderickx was a timpanist with the Nieuw Belgisch Kamerorkest (1985-1995), subsequently the Beethoven Academie, conducted by Jan Caeyers. He later specialised in playing Middle Eastern instruments, such as the daf and the tombak, and was always searching for new sounds. He performed as a conductor or percussionist in many of his compositions.
Connecting people and music styles
In his work, he consistently built bridges to other musical styles, such as early music, non-Western music, alternative music styles and jazz, and electronics often play an important role.
He also found it increasingly important to involve a broad community in his work, from semi-professionals to amateurs.
For example, in his last opera, De Bekeerlinge (The Convert), a city choir of amateurs played a prominent role.
Collaborations
Wim Henderickx worked with Diederik Glorieux as his permanent musical assistant and with Jorrit Tamminga for the electronics. Bea Steylaerts was his business and practical right-hand woman.
Opera, music theatre and large-scale projects
Since 1997, Wim Henderickx was resident composer at Muziektheater Transparant, a loyal collaboration with which he realised numerous productions. His first major opera, Triumph of Spirit over Matter, premiered at La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, and Achilleus, an opera for young people, has been performed several times at the opera houses in Antwerp, Ghent and Copenhagen. Void (Sunyata) a co-production with DE SINGEL and Zürcher Theater Spektakel, toured internationally with Hans Op de Beeck, Wouter Van Looy, Oxalys and Muziektheater Transparant, with Wim Henderickx as conductor. Songs of Nature, a co-production with B'Rock, toured successfully through China and Europe.
He also created a number of musical theatre productions with HERMESensemble, often in collaboration with Muziektheater Transparant and DE SINGEL such as Revelations and the posthumous Inner Life.
In Burkina Faso, West Africa, he developed Confrontations for five Western and five African percussionists, a work commissioned by Zuiderpershuis Antwerp and featuring Adama Dramé and Gert François as master drummers, which toured the world. With Antifoon, he set up a huge project involving 500 musicians, from professionals and amateurs to children's choirs and youth orchestras on the Tuikabel bridge in Hasselt. Together with author Bart Moeyaert, he developed the production Olek schoot een Beer (Olek Shot a Bear), a work that also appeared in book and CD form in various languages, and later took on many other forms with other performers.
In 2022, his opera De Bekeerlinge (The Convert) premiered at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp and Ghent and became the most successful contemporary production at this opera house in more than 20 years.
In 2024, De Bekeerlinge (The Convert) - Beten, zu Wem?, based on Stefan Hertmans' world-famous novel of the same name, had its German premiere in Bielefeld in a completely new artistic concept. Inner Life was premiered posthumously with local communities in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Orchestral works
In 1988 and 1990, his first orchestral works, Variations and Le Visioni di Paura, premiered at DE SINGEL in Antwerp. Later, important works followed, such as his 3 Ragas, the large orchestral work Tejas (What does the sound of the universe look like?) and his two Symphonies. As artist-in-residence, he was associated for many years with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (formerly deFilharmonie-Royal Flemish Philharmonic), for which he composed the Oboe Concerto (Empty Mind I), Aquarius' Dream and the Cello Concerto (Sangita). The latter was premiered by Jean-Guihen Queyras under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam. He was working intensively on his third symphony when he suddenly passed away. Rejoice! (Hymn for New Times) received its posthumous world premiere with the Belgian National Orchestra, conducted by Antony Hermus in Bozar in Brussels.
Cycles
In addition to the Raga cycle, Wim Henderickx composed the Tantric Cycle, a seven-part composition based on Eastern philosophy and Buddhism. He also composed cycles entitled In Deep Silence, Sacred Places and Empty Mind, all for very diverse instrumentations.
Music recordings
There are numerous recordings of his music, ranging from solo pieces to orchestral works and opera. The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra recorded a large part of his orchestral works, such as the three Ragas, Tejas, Symphony No. 1, Groove!, Oboe Concerto, etc. The HERMESensemble recorded a large part of his ensemble works, such as Disappearing in Light, Nada Brahma, Atlantic Wall, Raga III, etc.
His final opera, The Convert, received an audio and video recording with a digital release in 2025 by Antarctica Records.
Awards
He received the Flanders-Quebec Prize (1993) and the Eugène Baie Prize (1999). In 2002, he was named a laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, followed by a nomination for the Flemish Culture Prizes in 2006. In 2011, he received the Culture Prize for his entire oeuvre in his hometown of Lier. In 2015, he was appointed a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (KVAB) for Sciences and Arts, and in 2017, he was nominated for the ‘Composer of the Year’ award by the Norwegian Society of Music Publishers. One of his last music theatre works, Songs of Nature, won the Chinese GanLan Art Award in 2022.
Teaching
Henderickx was senior lecturer in composition and analysis at the conservatories of Antwerp and Amsterdam. He was also head coach of the SoundMine summer composition course for young composers, organised by Musica Impulscentrum.
Wim Henderickx Foundation vzw
Wim Henderickx passed away suddenly on 18 December 2022.
The Wim Henderickx Foundation vzw remains committed to promoting and raising awareness of his oeuvre and his inspiring personality.