CT: Taking you back to your formative years in Belgium, you played in numerous wind bands early on, but can you recall your first contact with brass bands?

HV: Actually, I played in fanfare bands before playing in brass bands. It was at the age of 14 that Stan Nieuwenhuis convinced me to start playing in his brass band. As I was focusing on orchestral work and the trumpet, I wasn’t very interested in taking up the challenge at first, so I started by helping the band out at the Belgian National Championships. This is how I first came to play for Brassband Buizingen, but afterwards, I had to admit that I enjoyed the feeling of being within in a group of brass players and the whole experience of playing music competitively.

So I started playing as a regular member on bottom third cornet and, a year-and-a-half-later, I progressed to the flugel before being appointed Principal Cornet after a further year. To this day, I have never regretted it for one single minute.

CT: Luc Vertommen has played a significant part in your musical life at Brassband Buizingen. How great an influence on you has Luc been and what did you learn from him during your time working with the band?

HV: Luc was a very important part of my development as a player and he was my first contact in this new world of developed music making. He basically taught me everything from the very start, like the basic rules of playing in an ensemble such as ‘Buizingen’, how to play my first solos on the contest stage and he also helped to develop my solo skills performing in front of a brass band. He kept passing on that knowledge for my entire 15 years with the band and it something for which I’m very grateful.

CT: Leaving Brassband Buizingen must have been a major decision then, after your great success at the band?