Stijn Aertgeerts

Stijn Aertgeerts, Born on 21 december 1992, placed his first steps in the musical world when he was 6 years old with the K.F. De Goorse Bloesem in Heist-Goor (Heist op-den Berg). Here he got his first lessons from Geert Van Looy on the flugelhorn.

After that, Stijn received his basic Music Theory and instrument lessons at the Heist op-den Berg Music school. A couple of years later he got asked to continue his musical studies at the Music School of Antwerp with Arthur Vanderhoeft where he played the Flugelhorn and the Cornet. Because of Arthur, Stijn got the chance to play with the European Youth Brass Band band, at the 2006 European Brass Band Championships in Belfast. One year later got to join the European Youth Brass Band again on the cornet, in Birmingham this time. He got to repeat this 2 more times in Montreux and Oslo on the Eb Bass. In Birmingham, Stijn was approached by Frans Violet to join Young Brass Band Willebroek.

He gladly accepted this request and not even a year later, together with his 2 teachers, Frans Violet and Arthur Vanderhoeft, he decided to make the transition to Eb Bass. after a couple of months, Stijn was playing with Brass Band Willebroek, where he is still active right now. Frans Violet became his new teacher at the Kunsthumaniora of Brussels, waar he graduated middle school 2 years later.

In meanwhile, Stijn earned several titles at provincial and national championships. stijn took masterclasses with international top-tubaplayers like Sergio Carolino, Les Neish, and Øystein Baadsvik and he got invited to take a lesson at home with James Gourlay.

In 2010, Stijn continued his musical studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp with Frans Violet and Hendrik-Jan Renes. Following that, he went to study at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where he got his Masters Degree on the tuba. Here, he also studied composition and conducting as side courses.

Stijn had the chance to play with many ensembles in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany and Norway. He also played with Professional Symphony Orchestra's like the Flemish Opera Orchestra, The Orchestra of La Monnaie and The National Orchestra of Belgium.

As a composer, Stijn is very active at the moment. He mainly writes for Brass Band, Concert Band and Fanfare orchestra. With that, he has won the Familie Van Riet prize in the catergory under 25. He has written commisions for Brass Band Willebroek, Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag, K.F. Moed & Volharding, K.F. De Ware Eendracht and many others. Also for soloists like Jeroen Corneillie, Lode Violet and Kevin Van Giel, Stijl has written a couple of compositions. Stijn is also musical director in both K.F. De Ware Eendracht, K.F. Sint-Huibrecht and Brass Band Burgipja.