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Kristien Ceuppens studied at the Royal Academies of Brussels and Antwerp, where she was taught by Paul Dombrecht and Joris Vandenhauwe, and has since become a welcome guest in the Belgian orchestra world (including deFilharmonie, La Monnaie, the Liège Philharmonic and the Brussels Philharmonic).
In Germany, she is often invited by the Symphony Orchestras of WDR in Köln.
This broad range of activities, as well as substantial teaching assignments, does not prevent her from investing increasingly in her other passions: contemporary music and crossover.
She regularly performs at major contemporary music festivals in Europe (Ruhr Triennale, Berliner Festspiele, Musica Strasbourg, Holland Festival, Ars Musica...) among others with the Ictus-ensemble, the German Musikfabrik and the Portuguese Remix ensemble.
Kristien also shows her idiosyncratic choices as session musician (in studiorecordings) and in multi-disciplinary productions – with the early music ensemble Zefiro Torna and dance company Thomas Hauert/Zoo, guitarist/composer Aram Van Ballaert and actress Sarah Vertongen.
"Whether it concerns a solo in Jonathan Harvey's emblematic orchestral work Speakings (with the orchestra of the WDR-Köln at the Ruhrtriennale), the dance production with The Song from the Earth ("3Abschied" with Ictus/Rosas), performing with the jazz band of Belgian saxophonist Bruno Vansina (among others at Jazz Middelheim), musical theatre work with the Catalan wonder boys of La Fura dels Baus and the MusikFabrik ensemble (Köln) or the legendary Yellow Shark transcriptions of Frank Zappa (with the Portuguese Remix ensemble): one can always count on Kristien’s musically intelligent agility.”
