Adia Vanheerentals
Adia Vanheerentals is a 26-year-old reed player and composer from Antwerp.
She has played with several jazz and brass bands such as Klinck Trio, Fanfaar Fatal, and The Blue Heathens Jazz Band. She herself founded the bands Bodem (with Anke Verslype and Willem Malfliet), Vanheerentals/Lasure/Beeackaert, and Waarlijk. She also composed and co-performed in the dance production ‘Change Of Plans’ by Femke Gyselinck.
“Great artists add and push forward”
Why did you choose reed instruments?
Adia Vanheerentals: Because the apartment I grew up in was too small for a piano.
What are you trying to convey when you play? What do you want to express?
Nothing clearly, I just want to be expressive. The story or the specific feelings are up to the listener.
Do you have to feel good to play well?
Yes, but I have to feel bad to compose well.
Is “playing” about having fun, or about “learning”?
It’s about connecting, to other musicians, the audience, or (especially when playing solo) the acoustics of the room.
Should it be an artist’s goal to “push things forward,” to add something new to what already existed?
Great artists do both, by adding they push forward.
Joeri Bruyninckx
Upcoming gig [link]
Headline photo: Anke Verslype, Adia Vanheerentals, Willem Malfliet
Adia Vanheerentals Instagram
