I am very proud to announce on my website that I have won the second Lieksa Euphonium Competition.
It was a very tough competition with strong competitors from all over the world.

The competition started on the 21st of August with the first 21 competitors out of 38. The resthad to play the next day. As you could read on my not updated blog, I had to play on the second day. As draw number 34 I was one of the last players of the day on Saturday. The Vivaldi Sonate went really well and I was happy with Three Euphonics too. After I had played I went for a swim in the nice Lake of Lieksa with a few friends as it was really hot in Finland. The results were announced later that day in the Brass Week Office.  I was very happy when they announced my name together with the other 7 players that made it too the second round later in the week. There were only 8 out of 38 left to play the pieces of the second round. These players came from all over the world with two french guys, a spanish and Portuguese euph player, Japan, Australia and an American. The draw stayed the same so I had to play second last. It was a though program and it was so hot on stage. The second round went ok. But I had some nerves when I went to the Brass Week Office again to find out who the three players are that made it to the finals.
A bit unlucky but the guy that announced the results turned his paper the wrong way so everybody could see the names of the finalists before it was announced. I was very happy to be in the final with my friend from the US Greg Battista and my new friend Kyohei Ando from Japan.
Now we had two days to prepare for the finals on thursday. With a chat with the conductor and a rehearsal with the finish Guard band of Helsinki on the day before the final. It was only a short rehearsal but the three of us did a good job. The conductor was very nice and patient so we worked very well with the wind band. The piece of the final was the lovely concerto for euphonium by John Golland. I really enjoyed playing in the church of Lieksa.
After the concert the chairman of the Lieksa Brass week announced the results.
Third place: Kyohei Ando, Japan
Second place: Greg Battista, USA
First place: Glenn Van Looy, Belgium

I’m really happy and want to congratulate the two other finalist for their brilliant performance!!!

What a nice evening it was with a self organized party with all the 38 participants.

I would like to thank my family and close friends for all their support and believe in me. Without them this victory wasn’t possible. Also a big thank you to my friend and roommate Kevin Van Giel and my two british mates Matt White and Lewis Musson for all the support during the week.

Day 1

Hello friends and followers,
I’m finaly in Lieksa. Sharing a room in a very nice hotel with Kevin Van Giel. The internet hardly works and the rooms are quiet small. But we’ll manage it for a week.
The first thing we did in the morning was going to the draw. Kevin drew number 11 so he is playing tomorrow. And I drew number 34 out of 38. That means that I have a day more to prepare. I’m playing the first round on Saturday. We both had a practice in the Lieksa office and are now ready to have a rehearsal with the accompanist and we can test the hall later on the day. I’ll try to post some more during the day. To be honest…there is not so much to do around here apart from practicing. So we will have to do it.

Keep an eye on the blog folks.

Hello everybody.

I recently joined Twitter. So now you can also follow what I’m doing on Twitter and Facebook!
You can find me as GlennVL

See you in Twitterland!!

Hello my friends,

I didn’t keep this website up to date as I promised but I had a really busy year. I want to apology for this and will try to do it a lot better this year!!
I will give you a short review of the last year with a few highlights of my so far young career.

I’ll start in Korea. At the end of August there was the music competition of Jeju.
Jeju is a very nice island in South-Korea. Every participant stayed in the dormes of the University of Jeju. This was hosted by the organization.
I came second on this competition and was happy with it. I was really happy with the way I played in the final. It was accompanied by symphony orchestra. It was great to play the Cosma concerto with orchestra. You can watch it on the website : http://jiwef.org/english/competition/sub_03.php

In the beginning of October I was a guest in Italy? This was thanks to my fantastic sponsor Besson and Buffet Crampon.
I gave a masterclass in a new music shop that opened in Merano! Thank you Besson for giving me this opportunity.

Between this and the next year 2011 I had a busy time too. I went to China with my brass quartet Exit_Brass! and played a few solo concerts with brass bands in Belgium.

In the new year I went to Australia, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands.

I was invited by Lochgelly band (Scotland) to play solo euphonium at the regional competitions in Perth. We played Paganini Variations and the band did a really great job. They came thirds overall and it was just only the first year in the highest division. And I was very happy to help the band and win the Solo prize in this event.

I’m not a stranger for Beaumaris Band. They asked me again to play for them in Blackpool at the senior cup. We had to play Prisms by Peter Graham. It’s a really good piece and the band again played wonderfull. It was great to see how the band made a huge progress over the year. The band came third and was very happy as they move on to the grand shield next year. This is where they belong! Let’s see if I can make it a hattric by winning the solo prize next year in the grand shield. I would like to thank the band for all their support and believe in me!

Recent I was in the Netherlands with my own band Brass Band Heist. We went to Eurobrass, a very nice competition in the north of the Netherlands. Playing Battle creek we came 4th overall. I really enjoyed the performance! Band was in absolute topform thanks to MD Bert Van Thienen. On the saturday we had to play an own choice concert program where each band introduced a soloist. I thank Bert for the chance he gave me. I played a new piece specially written for me by Tom Davoren. The piece is called Proverbially and is written in a concertino style. It will be the first track on my solo album.
Thanks too the tight accompaniment of the Band and the great writing of Tom I won the solo prize!

2011 has been a wonderfull year so far for me and I’m sure there’s still a lot to come with trips to Finland and Switzerland!

Keep an eye on my website!!

Glenn

Title: International Euphonium Competition
Location: Lieksa, Finland
Link out: Click here
Description:

Hello My friends,
On the end of July I will be in Finland to compete in the Lieksa International Euphonium Competition. This event is a part of the Lieksa Brass Week that is held in Lieksa, Finland.
I will keep you up to date about this event on my website.
The program that I will play is:

first round:
Howard J. Buss: Three Euphonics
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata no.6 for Violoncello and Piano

Second round:
Ermanno Picchi: Fantasie Originale
Jukka Linkola: Euphonium Concerto, First Movement

Final round:
John Golland: Euphonium Concerto no.1

So keep your fingers crossed during this period!!!!!
Start Date: 2011/07/20
End Date: 2011/07/29

Last weekend (sunday 7 November) Exit_Brass! won the ‘British Open Quartet Championship’. Exit_Brass! played ‘Divertimento’ by Philip Sparke en beated the other 13 quartets. ‘The Thames Quartet‘ became second and our Belgian friends from ‘Cosy Brass‘ come 3rd.

Some quotes by the adjudicators:
“This is very fine playing, with great dynamics” (Dr Nicholas Childs)
“The soft piano are magic…” (Dr Nicholas Childs)
“… there is a splendid musicality to the playing” (James Scott)
“There is understanding from each player resulting in a fine musical performance…” (James Scott)

Click HERE for the results on 4BR.

For the full retrospective click HERE.

I will work on the last bits and details for the competition in Korea next week in Dinant. The town of Adolphe Sax who improved the euphonium years ago. I will work in the summer courses with my tutor Nick Ost. I hope to get everything right to get off to Korea the week after.
I wont have internet over there so if you would like to contact me you can reach me on my mobile phone if it’s urgent.

Have a nice week. And I’ll try to keep you up to date about my trip to Korea from the 9th of August.

In the beginning of May this year I was in Wales to help Beaumaris band out for the senior trophy in Blackpool. I spend a few days in Beaumaris, Anglesey rehearsing with the band. I had a great time. They are a really nice band that really appreciated me helping out. On the day of the contest I was locked up in the pub where I stayed. So I had to use the fire exit to be on time for my lift to the contest. The band really did a great job and they won the senior trophy. We had to play ‘Le roi d’ys. So there was a big euph solo in it to. The adjudicators chose me to win the solo award. I was really pleased for the band for their victory.

Myself and Gwyn Evans (MD of Beaumaris)

The band recently wrote an article on 4barsrest about there busy times and the celebration of the victory in Blackpool. I want to thank the band for their kind words in the article and for their appreciation for me.

Want to read the article about Beaumaris band? Click here

Welcome @ my new website.

I’ll try to keep everyone updated when possible.
You’ll be able to view my future events, photo’s and much much more…

Have a look around and enjoy!

Glenn

contact@glennvanlooy.be