Stephan Vermeersch (Belgium) 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 (student of Walter Boeykens) and saxophone with Ed Bogaard. He attended lots of master classes and workshops.
Stephan has gained an international reputation as versatile performer-improviser-composer of classical, contemporary, world and electro-acoustical music with many crossovers to other cultures and art forms (visual arts, dance, film, architecture, literature, theater…). He participated as soloist/chamber musician in a multitude of genres on clarinets & saxophones at concerts and festivals in over 40 countries East- & West-Europe, Middle-East, Russia, USA, Canada, Armenia, Pakistan, India, Japan, China and Mongolia.
As composer/improviser his motto is: "What lies beyond the border: a quest for new captivating music for a wide public: Far reaching and enriching!”
Stephan is an active teacher in clarinets, saxophones and chamber music in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Also here he is gaining a reputation with his special approach: “Learning music brain efficiently: balancing cognition, psychomotorics and affection”. Worldwide he is in demand for master classes and workshops covering many aspects of musicianship.
Stephan is past-president (2013-2023) of the European Clarinet Association. He is a Selmer Paris Artist, D'Addario Woodwind Artist, Das Blashaus Artist, Silverstein Artist and Daniel Bulgheroni Artist. He was International Representative Board Director of the International Clarinet Association (2013-2017) and is past National Representative ICA Belgium (2018-2023).
Philip Farkas: The Art of Musicianship,1976
David Blum: Casals and the Art of Interpretation, 1977
Mathis Lussy: Musical Expression (Traite de L'expression, 1877)
Mathis Lussy: Le Rhythme Musicale, 1884
Mathis Lussy: Musicology Book 1 Anacrusis in modern music (L'anacrouse dans la musique moderne, 1903), Book 2 Musical rhythm (Le Rythme Musical, 1884)
John Krell: Kincaidiana, 1997
David McGill: Sound in Motion: A Performer's Guide to Greater Musical Expression, 2009
Hermann Keller: Phrasing and Articulation: A Contribution to a Rhetoric of Music, 1973
James Morgan Thurmond: Note Grouping: A Method for Achieving Expression and Style in Musical Performance, 2000
Leila Storch: Marcel Tabuteau - How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can’t Peel a Mushroom?, 2018
James Umble: Jean-Marie Londeix-Master of the Modern Saxophone
Emile Stiévenard: Essay sur la Prosodie Musicale, 1924
Adolph F. Christiani: The Principles of Expression in Pianoforte Playing, 1885
Tobias Matthay, Musical Interpretation, 1914
Maurice Emmanuel, Histoire de la Langue Musicale
Leopold Stokowski: Music for All of Us, 1943
Dom Joseph Gajard: The Rhythm of Plainsong, 1945
Hugo Riemann: Vademecum der Phrasierung, 1912
Finn Egeland Hansen: Layers of Musical Meaning, 2006
Leopold Stokowski: Music for All of Us, 1943
William J. Finn: The Conductor Raises His Baton, 1946