Wietse Voermans
Wietse Voermans’s work, as a saxophonist, composer and improviser, encompasses a variety of settings ranging from his Flemish-Dutch saxophone quartet Spoken with a warm and filmic approach to the Italian-Slovenian-Dutch Quartzite 4tet with a high energy and rhythmical approach.
Most of Wietse’s activities in recent years have been exploring different approaches of composing, playing and fulfilling multidisciplinary projects. He enjoys discovering new possibilities and developing a different understanding of his saxophone. On that account he never shies to take up a challenge and therefor is known for a unique sound and style. He writes compositions for the projects Spoken (where he has a leading role) and Quartzite 4tet. Furthermore he has composed for film, art, theatre and other ensembles. Wietse Voermans graduated at Codarts (the jazz academy of Rotterdam) in 2015 after finishing his final year of the master in saxophone and composition at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.In 2016 he made it to the finals of the Erasmus Jazz Prize with Quartzite 4tet where he personally won the prize for ‘best soloist’. In 2017 he won the Keep an Eye the Records competition with his ensemble Spoken.
In recent years Wietse has toured all over Europe with various collaborations and he has established a leading or sideman role within several interesting projects varying from multidisciplinary free-impro to contemporary composed music projects. These are all mainly leaning towards the left-of-center jazz, contemporary, improv genre.
Op zondag 24 maart 2019 trad Wietse met het Spoken Saxophone Quartet op in de kerk van Mook.