Henk Lauwers is a classical

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

singer ( lyric baritone), born in

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 1956. As a very young

boy soprano A boy soprano (British and especially North American English) or boy treble (only British English) is a young male singer with a voice in the soprano range, a range that is often still called the treble voice range (in North America too) no m ...

Lauwers performed under direction of Benjamin Britten his '' War Requiem''. Later he studied classical

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

but gained international fame as a classical

singer. One of his most notable performances has been his live interpretation of '' Eight Songs for a Mad King'' by Peter Maxwell Davies directed by Ian Burton in a Muziektheater Transparant production.

Performances

* "Maria de

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

", Ástor Piazzolla, tango-operita with Rudolf Werthen, Covent Garden Festival 2000,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Arts Festival 2001, Chiang Kai-shek,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

2002, L'Arsénal,

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

2004 and L'Opéra,

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

* " Flamma Flamma", Nicholas Lens, Contemporary Art Museum,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, chamber version with Frank Sheppard, Zeger Vandersteene, Gudrun Vercampt, Geert Callaert * "Je Pleure des Bananes", Arne Sierens * "Torre de Canela",

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

– Hans Rotman with Sinfonietta Nova Arnstadt and Opera Mobile,

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

* "Cantate aux étoiles", André Waignien * "Jonker Lichthart", Jef Van Hoof * "Weihnachtsoratorium", Bach, I Fiamminghi * "Ulrike", Raoul Desmet * "De Grote Verzoeking van Sint-Antonius", Louis De Meester * "Welp-Urt", opera, Johan Desmet * "Ikh bin keyn eydes nit gevezn," ''(" The Puppet Designer"),'' Nicholas Lens with Rudolf Werthen, I Fiamminghi, Paradiso, Amsterdam * "

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, I Fiamminghi * "L'Inganno Felice", Rossini, stage direction Harry Kümmel * "Empedocles' Turm", Cees Nooteboom, Hans Rotman with Sinfonia Amsterdam, Angermuseum in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

* "Des Esels Schatten",

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

, Opera Mobile * " Terra Terra", Nicholas Lens,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

with The Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Claron McFadden, LaVerne Williams, Frank Sheppard, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares * "8 songs for a Mad King," Peter Maxwell Davies with Transparent, Prometheus, Etienne Siebens, Ian Burton

Awards

* Prize Alpaerts for

Chamber Music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

* Prize Emmu Luart * Finalist Bellini-concours * Prize Victor Ligley 1997 for contribution to contemporary work

Recordings

''(labels Antler,

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...

, Classic Talent,

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

, Ariola Classic)'' * "Het Iepersch Liedboek" ''(Songbook from

)'' * "Musiques pour Marie-Thérèse", M.A. Charpentier * " Orrori dell’Amore", Nicholas Lens with Claron McFadden * " Manon Lescaut," PucciniMcCants (2003) p. 68 * "Torre de Canela", García Lorca * "De Grote Verzoeking van Sint-Antonius", Louis De Meester, * " The Accacha Chronicles", Nicholas Lens with Derek Lee Ragin, Claron McFadden, Ian Honeyman, Jean-Paul Fauchécourt * 'Wilt thou be my dearie", Leopold Kozeluch with Diane Andersen, pianoforte.

References

Sources

*Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen
Biography: Henk Lauwers
*McCants, Clyde T.
''Opera for libraries: a guide to core works, audio and video recordings, books and serials''
McFarland, 2003.

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauwers, Henk 1956 births Living people Belgian classical flautists Belgian male singers Belgian opera singers Musicians from Ypres