Stephan Vermeersch

Stephan Vermeersch studied at the Lemmens Institute Leuven and Royal Conservatory Ghent in Belgium and holds degrees in clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone and chamber music. He studied clarinet with Greet Severens, a student of Walter Boeykens, and saxophone with Ed Bogaard.

Stephan has gained an international reputation as a versatile performer-improviser-composer of classical, contemporary, world and electro-acoustical music, and he frequently collaborates with other cultures and art forms, including visual arts, dance, film, architecture, literature and theater.

He has participated as a soloist and chamber musician in a multitude of genres, playing clarinets and saxophones at concerts and festivals in over 45 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the United States, Canada, Armenia, Pakistan, India, Japan, China and Mongolia.

As a composer/improviser, his motto is: “What lies beyond the border, a quest for new captivating music for a wide public, far reaching and enriching!”

He is in demand to present master classes and workshops, and is an active teacher in clarinets, saxophones and chamber music at the Academy of Arts in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, and in the Netherlands.

Stephan is President of the European Clarinet Association (ECA) and was International Representative Board Director (2014-2017) of the International Clarinet Association (ICA), which strives to unite European clarinet players beyond geographic, cultural, social and language boundaries, and collaborate with other clarinet associations around the world.