Nederlands Hans Aerts
Hans Aerts studied at the Music Academy of Mol clarinet and piano. After obtaining government medals for these two instruments, he studied at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. There he was taught by Walter Boeykens (clarinet), Marc Verhaegen (harmony) and August Verbesselt (analysis). Afterwards he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he followed counterpoint and fugue with Rafaël D'Haene. Finally, at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, he studied composition with Piet Swerts.
Several of his works were awarded. He received in 1984 an honorable mention in the Clarinet Choir Composition Contest of the University of Maryland. In 1993, 1995 and 2005 he won the Cantabile Composition with successively the piano works Berceuse triste - Canzonetta (1993), Rondino (1995) and Promenade (2005). In 1999, his song 'Tranen' on a text by Guido Gezelle, for soprano, clarinet in Bb and piano (1998) was selected by the composition contest of the city of Roeselare.
In both 1996 and 1997 Hans Aerts wrote the obligatory works respectively for harp and violin for the National Competition Axion Classics of Dexia Bank. These were the works At the lake or Connemara for harp (1995) and Contemplazione for violin and piano (1996). In 2004 he wrote for the same match Concertino da camera for woodwinds combined with piano: flute, clarinet, oboe, alto saxophone and bassoon. The piano work Sentimental Waltz was nominated in 2003 in the ISME-composition and released on CD.
Currently Hans Aerts active as a composer and as professor of clarinet and chamber music at the Academy of Music, Drama and Dance in Turnhout.
