pianist / composer
After graduating from Conservatories in 1999 Frederik Croene developed a handful trajectories in which he reflects on the ever changing and multi-layered identities of the classical pianist. As the Gestalt of his instrument is grounded in 19th century romanticism, he still uses virtuosity to communicate about being a pianist. He played and recorded the classical repertoire and worked intensively with composers as Michael Beil, Johannes Kreidler, Simon Steen-Andersen, Michael Finnissey, Alexander Schubert and Stefan Prins. His formulation of the concept of Le Piano Démécanisé in an article and an LP-release in 2010 was a turning point in becoming a composer/performer.
With pianist Elisa Medinilla he founded PIANOGUIDE, a dynamic pianist think tank that develops concert events together with programmers and for which Croene composes new pieces. Other trajectories tend to focus more on transdisicplinary art with artist Karl van Welden, improvisation and intiutive performance/studio recording with Timo van Luijk a.k.a Af Ursin.
He is a piano teacher and leads the Vinim-atelier, a place for new music experiments. In a small venue in Merelbeke (BE) he curated PXP (2015-2020), a series of concerts with experimental music.
Graphic- & Webdesign:Mathieu Serruys & Joris Verdoodt
Frederik Croene is a pianist/composer based in Ghent, Belgium. On this website you’ll find his agenda linked to an overview of his trajectories and publications.
Maker at Concertgebouw Brugge
I am honored to spread the news I will be a Maker at Concertgebouw Brugge from september '22 'till 2024. It means I will create and show new work at this magnificent venue. These projects are already planned:
-Solastalgia (release concert LP on Cortizona)
-Earth I (with Karl Van Welden)
-Sticky Drama (with writer Dominique De Groen and artists Lore Binon, Amina Osmanu (Amos) & IKRAAAN).
Thanks to Jan De Moor & Jeroen Vanacker for all these opportunities and their trust in my future work!
Residency at PACT Zollverein, Essen (DE)
In March ’21 I will join Karl Van Welden for an artist residency at PACT Zollverein in Essen, Germany. We will work on a new collaboration (Earth I) and probably much more.
Commission for sound & vision | Klarafestival
Joost Fonteyne, programmer for Klarafestival asked to write a piece and involve a visual artist. The result is this video/pianopiece I made with Karl Van Welden: Diamond Princess, 17/02/2020, Yokohama – Japan.
It will premiere online together with other composer/artist collaborations on 18/03/2021.
The pianopiece would also be the first part of a new album called Solastalgia, coming out maybe in 2021.
Zefiro Torna, Beethoven project
The performance on Lunalia Festival Mechelen is not cancelled yet, in Brugge Concertgebouw and Meise concerts are cancelled. Instead we will make a video recording of the project which will become some kind of documentary.
Residency with Tom De Cock
The coming week I will work with Tom De Cock and his exciting new minimal percussion-with-electronics setup at Concertgebouw Brugge, starting tomorrow!
Achter de Schermen
I am part of Achter de Schermen, an online education initiative by Nadar Ensemble. You can book an online lesson in which I will talk about new piano music, my own work and instruments.
Corona update
Concerts with Zefiro Torna and Odysseia Ensemble are canceled or postponed.
New dates!
Both gigs with Mathieu Serruys & Karen Willems have other dates now, check events tab on the right.
Summer impro gigs coming up
This summer I am invited by Karen Willems, Tom De Cock and Joost Fonteyne to engage in new collaborations, check out the events tab for dates.
La Scie Dorée on Bandcamp
You can now buy the three albums Timo van Luijk and Frederik Croene made together on the digital platform Bandcamp.
Graduation event at Royal College of Art, London
I will play a one hour new solo piece for the online graduation event of RCA, School of Architecture on july 16th 2020 19h00. Live previews of all ADS graduation work, interviews and a live piano recital, curated by Steve Salembier, Frederik Croene and Karl Van Welden.
COVID-19
Cul de Sac in CC Hasselt & Concertgebouw Brugge are canceled. Minimal Piano at Concertgebouw and the concerts with Zefiro Torna are postponed, keep an eye on this website for further notices.
Multimodal Community Project on Transit Festival 2020
If COVID-19 permits, I will present a new piano recital worked out together with people from the local community using video and soundtrack. In collaboration with Matrix {New Music Centre} & Transit Festival.
Duet with Borokov Borokov
Frederik Croene appears on Deurenkomedie, track 6 on Borokov Borokov’s latest LP Enkel Duetten.
• listen
Six Cul de Sac live shows coming up
Check calendar for dates!
“His expressive concentration at the keyboard is worthy of Sviatoslav Richter broaching a Beethoven sonata.” — The Wire, July 2019
Ipnopedion LP now available!
From now on you can buy our (Timo van Luijk & Frederik Croene) new album Ipnopedion on Timo’s site: La Scie Dorée.
Frederik Croene / Ghost Trance Project at PostX
Ghost Trance Project is the result of a research project dedicated to performing and exploring the different interpretational possibilities of Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music (GTM) in both solo as group contexts. I will play a warm-up impro. Check agenda for info.
Trailer Cul de Sac
To announce the release of the Cul de Sac LP, we launched this video, shot in ‘De Vlaamse Ardennen’, video & concept by Karl Van Welden.
Ipnopedion LP release shows
©Ann Vervoort
Timo van Luijk and me will bring our new LP Ipnopedion 3x live! Check agenda for dates!
(Paysage en attente...)
You can now listen to a large fragment of (Paysage en attente…), a piece Daan Janssens composed for PIANOGUIDE (two piano’s and electronics). Recorded live during the Transit Festival 2019, performed by PIANOGUIDE (Elisa Medinilla and Frederik Croene) and Centre Henri Pousseur.
• listen