Simon Vandenbroecke, our new second bassoonist, started his work at the Residentie Orkest last August 1. In lilting Flemish, he is happy to tell you about his musical journey from the calm Flemish countryside to hectic The Hague.

In the first week of August, Simon Vandenbroecke, a friendly young man with a big head of curls, receives me in a very old building in the heart of The Hague. His apartment has been freshly renovated. There is some new furniture, a few plants, a hi-fi system playing Beethoven's Pastoral symphony softly. Although Simon has lived there just one day, there are no moving boxes: "Two of my best friends helped me move in, and in a few days some other friends will come and help me with further furnishing."

Kanegem

Those "best friends," like Simon himself, all grew up in Kanegem, a small rural village in West Flanders about thirty kilometers from Ghent. "About a thousand people live in Kanegem. Everyone there knows each other, which gives a warm, homey feeling. I still have a very good relationship with those friends, even though we now each have very different jobs in very different places. They live in Bruges, Sint Niklaas, Tielt, Brussels... We didn't stick around under the church tower!"

Bassoon

Simon's parents are not musically inclined, but can enjoy the sociability of an orchestra. "We used to often go and listen to wind bands in the area. My father directs an association that organizes an annual classical Christmas concert, with entertainment afterwards until the late hours."

From an early age, Simon wanted to make his own music. His parents arranged for him to study solfège at the music school in a nearby village. "When I could read notes, I was about nine years old, there was a gathering of the students and teachers. These each showed and heard their musical instruments to us. The bassoon teacher, a sweet and spontaneous man, let me blow on a bassoon and said, Yes, that suits you! When I came home that afternoon and told my father it was going to be the bassoon, he said, What is that instrument?"

Music Microbe

At home, Simon rarely heard classical music. "That didn't happen until music school. And then I went home and searched on the computer and illegally downloaded CDs. For example, Dvorák's Ninth Symphony, with Herbert von Karajan. Completely flattened!"

During his high school years, Simon sometimes had the idea of becoming a professional musician. "But I was also pretty good at computer science and I thought: why go into an industry where it's hard to win a job? So I started studying I.T." He did so in Ghent. During and right after his undergraduate studies at the college, Simon played bassoon in the Ghent University Symphonic Orchestra, an orchestra full of aspiring doctors and engineers. "Once we played Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, and there I suddenly got a beautiful bassoon solo on my plate. That's when the music bug got me. I had been doubting whether to continue studying in IT, but suddenly I became aware of what my path should be."

Basic

At the conservatory in Ghent, Simon became a student of Pieter Nuytten, first bassoonist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. "I had to go all the way back to basics. For the first time I played scales! I've had lessons from him for six years now, and he continues to inspire me."

Pieter Nuytten encouraged Simon to play in youth orchestras. "I was lucky enough to play in the National Youth Orchestra for five years. There I learned a lot."

During his conservatory studies, Simon had a number of jobs in the IT sector. "One job was from 9 to 5, another was an hour's drive from Ghent; none of these fitted well with my bassoon studies. In Ghent, however, I found a good, flexible job that left me time to study really hard. Eventually I started auditioning, and at Residentie Orkest it worked out!"

Nose in butter

Simon falls head over heels at Residentie Orkest : a new chief conductor and a new hall. "The Concert Hall in Amare sounds great, playing together is easy, even in corona arrangement, and there is a nice atmosphere. Also in the rehearsal studio, where in June I was able to witness Anja Bihlmaier conducting a small piece of Beethoven's Pastorale. That was impressive!"

Ronald Touw