Aldo Baerten

"...with Aldo Baerten's soft-toned wooden flute marrying beautifully to Helmchen's elegant keyboard artistry...this is surely one of the great Schubert chamber music recordings. You'll love it." English Classics Today

Aldo Baerten is Principal Flutist at the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, Jaap van Zweden and Martyn Brabbins. He is Professor for flute at the Royal Conservatorium in Antwerp, at the Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht (NL) and gives masterclasses in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Mexico and the U.S. He is a regular guest at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, I Fiamminghi, European Union Opera (G. Roshdentvensky) and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is Artistic Director of the Royal Conservatory-Artesis Hogeschool Antwerp.

During his studies with  Prof. Peter-Lukas Graf (Musikhochschule Basel), where Aldo obtained the Diploma as a Soloist, and with Philippe Boucly (Bavarian Radio Symphony and R.Strauss-Konservatorium München), he became Prize-winner in competitions such as “Maria Canals” (Barcelona 2001), Vienna (2004), Axion Classics, Quantz, and the National Instrumentcompetition of Belgium. Aldo received the Alex de Vries-prize, the SABAM-award, and the Caecilia-prize of the Belgian music-press.

Aldo Baerten played as a soloist with eminent orchestras as the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, RSO Basel, National Orchestra of Belgium, Walloon Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony under the baton of D. Stern, V. Czarniecki, P. Rundel, G. Octors, Z. Nagy, T. Yuasa, S. Byess, E. Aadland.

He is a regular guest at festivals in Europe, Mexico, Russia and the U.S., together with famous musicians such as J. van Dam, Martin Helmchen, Severin Von Eckardstein,  F. Orval, W.  Boeykens, Niek de Groot, StorioniTrio, Michel Strauss, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Hervé Joulain, Kandinsky-trio, Jana Bouskova, Anneleen Lenaerts, Matthias Buchholz and many others.

Aldo Baerten has recorded extensively on Cypres, Phaedra, ECM, Pentatone and Beriato Music. His most recent recording (Pentatone), which he recorded together with pianist Martin Helmchen, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and violist Antoine Tamestit, received rave reviews:

"Though not a major piece of Schubert, it makes a delightful follow-up to the main work on this disc, particularly when treated with the respect lavished on it by Aldo Baerten and Martin Helmchen. The sound of Baerten’s wooden flute is particularly ingratiating and the un-forced virtuosity of his playing, particularly in Variations 5 and 7, is breathtaking."

From 1989 until 1993 he was Principal Flutist with Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra of the E.U, where he has played under conductors such as Haitink, Ashkenazy, Neumann, Conlon and Tate. He was also chosen as Principal of the Schleswigholstein Festival Orchestra (Sir G. Solti) and the World Youth Orchestra. Aldo Baerten was the Principal Flutist of the Belgian Chamber Orchestra and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig.

He had the honour of playing in masterclasses for Jeanne Baxtresser (U.S.) Jean-Pierre Rampal, Aurèle Nicolet, Andras Adorjan and Jacques Zoon.

Aldo Baerten is a regular Jury-Member of the Benelux-Flute Competition, Axion Classics, Lyons-music-competition, NFA Young Artists Competition and Yamaha Music Foundation. His students occupy positions in orchestras and conservatories in Belgium and abroad. He is a member of the Board of the Netherlands Flute Association and will be the International Liaison Officer for the National Flute Association of America 2009-2014.

Also visit: www.aldobaerten.be