Ensemble Bradamante

Rachel Heymans was born in 1988 and started playing the recorder at the age of five at the Music School of Waterloo under the tuition of Catherine Verkindere. In 1996 she went to the Music School of Braine l’Alleud to further her learning of the recorder with Jean-Pascal Hinnekens and she also enrolled on a chamber music class at the Music School of Waterloo with Michel Keustermans. She took part in the 2006 edition of the Axion Classics competition and won two First Prizes, one in the recorder category and the other in chamber music – with the Ensemble Bradamante.

That same year, she passed the entrance exam of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and she has since been studying under Laura Pok and Frédéric de Roos. In 2009 and 2010, she furthered her knowledge of contemporary music for recorder under Gerd Lünenbürger at Universität der Künste in Berlin. She also took part in the 2010 and 2011 edition of the PRIME contemporary music project organized by Antonio Politano. She has already had many opportunities to perform alongside the Cetra d’Orfeo and a few orchestras as well as in solo recitals. After completing her education in Brussels, she now completes the knowledge of the repertoire of her instrument in the Middle Ages department at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Anne-Catherine Gosselé started playing the recorder at the age of four at the Music School of Waterloo. She studied with Catherine Verkindere for ten years before undertaking further studies with Laura Pok. At the age of six, she decided to learn the violin alongside her studies of the recorder and she obtained the diploma of the Music School of Waterloo for this instrument too. Her teachers were Isabelle Roussey, Nicole Engels and Igor Semenoff.

Anne-Catherine Gosselé was a finalist and winner of several competitions in the recorder category : Jong Tenuto, Jeunes Talents, Jeunes musiciens, Axion Classics – solo and with the Ensemble Bradamante. In 1998, she took part in the international recorder contest SONBU in Utrecht where she was accompanied by Leonor Palazzo at the cello, Camille Babut du Marès at the violin and Paule Van den Driessche at the harpsichord. Together, they won the First Prize.

Following these experiences, she decided to pursue her passion and started studying at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2006 in the class of Frédéric de Roos, Laura Pok and Tomma Wessel while, at the same time, she began to learn the harpsichord with Paule Van den Driessche. In 2010, she took part in the Erasmus programme and took classes for six months with Agostino Cirillo at the Music Conservatory of Murcia in Spain. She has already had the opportunity to perform alongside the Cetra d’Orfeo. She recently got her Master’s degree in recorder with great distinction at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

The Belgo-Argentinian cellist Leonor Palazzo got her Masters degree at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2009. She was one of the students under Marie Hallynck and Didier Poskin and she completed her training under Hervé Douchy, Bernard Woltèche, Jean Tubéry, Edmond Baert, Lluís Claret, Daniel Rubinstein and Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiri amongst others. She then decided to broaden her horizons by discovering traditional Swedish music and she embarked on a year-long course at the Academy of Music and Drama of Göteborg under Hans Kennemark.

Her competition credentials date as far back as 1998, when she won the First Prize in the chamber music category at the contest SONBU in Utrecht. She also reached the semi-finals of the Jong Tenuto competition and won an Axion Classics award. In 2004, she took part in the annual Festival of Pyongyang, in Korea – the April Spring Friendship Art Festival – with Grupo 46, representing Argentina.

As a member of the orchestra I Musici Brucellencis, she played in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and also all over Belgium. As a member of Kurbitz, she plays regular concerts in Sweden in various places including the recent performance at the Royal Palace of Stockholm in January 2011. Meanwhile, she has also taken part in several studio recordings and her credits include her collaboration on «Tarentelle & Cie» with the La Néthen Chamber orchestra, and «Les pieds sur la braise vol 2» where she joined forces with the Trio Guerbigny.

After gaining a Masters in Ancient Languages and Literatures, Paule Van den Driessche obtained a First Prize for piano, chamber music, written and practical harmony, counterpoint, fugue and harpsichord as well as the Diplôme Supérieur for chamber music and harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Thanks to her ability to play the piano as well as the harpsichord she has developed a very broad repertoire.

In 1988 Paule Van den Driessche was accompanist at the 1st edition of the Queen Elisabeth International Singing Competition and in 2004 she also accompanied Shadi Torbey in the same competition. Moreover she took part in many broadcasts of the Radio Télévision Belge and she created a recorder method for children with Catherine Verkindere creating the arrangements and accompaniments herself. Over the years, she has given many recitals and concerts with music ensembles around the world.

Paule Van den Driessche is currently teaching the harpsichord at the Music School of Waterloo as well as accompanying singing classes (Marcel Vanaud) and ancient music classes (Frederic de Roos, Mira Glodeneau, Philippe Pierlot and others) at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Throughout her very fruitful career at the Conservatory, she has spent many years as a close collaborator of Jules Bastin. Paule Van den Driessche has produced many recordings over the years including harpsichord music and collaborations with singers and violin players.