Conductor: Diederik De Roeck

Diederik De Roeck was born in Geraardsbergen (Belgium). After obtaining the ‘City Medal’ for trumpet at the Municipal Academy of Music in his hometown in the class of Guido D’Haene, he perfected his skills during the last two years of secondary school at the Academy of Performing Arts in Aalst, taught by Honoré Verstraeten and Abel Degussem. He then started his higher education at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where he obtained First Prizes in Music Theory, Transposition, Trumpet and Chamber Music.

His teachers Manu Mellaerts and Guido Segers played a remarkable role throughout these years. Completing his studies at the Rotterdam Conservatory, the ‘Diploma Docerend Musicus’ was awarded in the class of Theo Mertens. After a two-year study programme at the Maastricht Conservatory, the ‘Diploma Uitvoerend Musicus’ was awarded under the supervision of Raymond Vievermanns (recognised as a Master’s degree in Flanders).

Meanwhile, his interest in conducting steadily grew. At the conservatories of Brussels and Ghent, he studied Wind Band Conducting under the mentorship of François De Ridder, Jan Segers, Norbert Nozy and Dirk Brossé.

Professionally, he was part of the Beethoven Academy in Antwerp as a trumpet player for 20 years. He also regularly performed in several distinguished orchestras such as I Fiamminghi, La Monnaie, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and the National Orchestra of Belgium.

He currently teaches brass playing in Part-time Art Education, having a full-time position at the Academy of Performing Arts in Aalst and the Arts Academy in Wetteren.

His ambition and commitment for conducting prominent wind bands in Flanders (Belgium) does not only result in organising high-quality projects with numerous renowned artists, often in the most diverse genres, but also in achieving various prestigious prizes and awards.