The Kugoni Trio is a young and unique ensemble, born at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2010. Kurt Bertels (saxophone), Bert Koch (piano) and Nicolas Dupont (violin) met in their common enthusiasm for energetic chamber music and fresh contemporary repertoire.

 

The trio has already performed pieces by Ida Gotkovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Astor Piazzolla, Paul Hindemith and many others. Because of their great interest in Belgian music, Kugoni Trio already commissioned works by Jan Van Damme, Jan Van Landeghem, Jeroen d’Hoe, Hanne Deneire, Wilfried Westerlinck, Paul Steegmans, Benjamien Lycke, Bernd Van Hulle and Erik Desimpelaere, and is also frequently performing existing pieces by Belgian composers such as Paul Gilson, Franz Constant and Wouter Lenaerts.

 

They are frequent guests in many Belgian cultural centres and have already performed in the Palais de Beaux-Arts and Flagey in Brussels, the Academiezaal in Sint-Truiden, AMUZ in Antwerp and the Concertgebouw in Bruges. The have also performed at Iedereen Klassiek (Bruges), the Cultuurmarkt (Antwerp), KlaraFestival (Brussels), BumaClassical (Utrecht) and the Festival Van Vlaanderen.Abroad, the Kugoni Trio have already given concerts in Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

 

The Kugoni Trio has recorded for Radio Klara, Musiq3 and Radio4 (NL) and has also appeared on the TV channels Cultuur7 and Canvas.

 

They were awarded first prize in the Supernova 2014 and Forte Limburg 2015 competitions. The trio was a resident ensemble for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons at SWUK Flanders. In February 2018 the Kugoni Trio was the recipient of the prestigious 'Fuga Trophy', awarded by the Union of Belgian Composers for the promotion of Belgian music. 

 

Bert Koch (°1986) is a Belgian pianist, mostly active as a chamber musician. He already concertized in a lot of Belgian concert halls such as the Flagey in Brussels, the Academy Hall in Sint-Truiden, the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, the Concert Hall of the Brussels Conservatory, the Concert Hall in Bruges, AMUZ in Antwerp and a diverse range of cultural centres. Moreover, he was a guest at different festival and cultural days as IedereenKlassiek (Bruges), Cultuurmarkt (Antwerp), KlaraFestival (Brussels), BumaClassical (Utrecht) and Festival van Vlaanderen (Kortrijk). Bert is active as a pianist-accompanist and a teacher accompaniment at the Stedelijke Academie voor Kunsten Maaseik. Every year he accompanies the Vlamo soloists competition.

 

Enriching his performances with in-depth artistic research, Kurt Bertels (°1989) brings the Belgian repertoire for saxophone into the limelight.  As a soloist and chamber music performer this classical saxophonist was already invited to play concerts in Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, Great-Britain and Norway.

 

As an artistic researcher Kurt Bertels is is currently preparing a doctorate in arts at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Flemish part). His research focuses on the concept of historically informed performance practice in the field of the early saxophone. He has given lectures in Belgium (Free University Brussels, Université de Liège) and in Portugal (2nd European saxophone Congress (Porto), 5th International conference on musical research (Evora).

 

With over 80 concerts a year, Nicolas Dupont (°1992) is one of the most active Belgian chamber musicians of his generation. He has already performed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. His ensembles are ambassadors for contemporary music and have commissioned over fourty pieces in close collaboration with composers.

 

Warakun / Ward De Vleeschhouwer

Four seasons- Spring / Astor Piazzolla

Four seasons- Summer  / Astor Piazzolla

Five pieces for two violins and piano / Dmitri Shostakovich

Four seasons- Winter  / Astor Piazzolla

Après l’Orage / Benjamien Lycke

Four seasons- Autumn / Astor Piazzolla

Pistol Packin’Mama  /  Scott McAllister 

* Program is subject to change