Musical biography
Laurent Beeckmans discovered music in his native family home at Enghien, Belgium, in a happy environment that did not draw up barriers between classical music, jazz, rock and roll or big band music.
First doubts came when he learned at the music school that some music is called 'serious' and at music theory lessons that only harmonies moving without parallels fifths are worthy. Besides an unavoidable academic apprenticeship largely taught at the Brussels' Conservatory, it is above all his unquenchable curiosity for the unusual and his longing to discover all kinds of music that made up his musical personnality.
His musical tastes were shaped by a series of big musical discoveries like Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending (after which hearing he spent a white night), Sibelius' 7th Symphony, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, Steve Reich's The Desert Music and Pat Metheny's The First Circle, to quote only a few.
Some composers deserve a special attention by Laurent Beeckmans: in 1999 he gave with Maud van Thienen the first recital in Belgium entirely devoted to the works for two pianos by the fascinating Australian Percy Grainger, and in 2003, he gave the first performance of his Concerto for piano and orchestra in B minor, from fragments of an unfinished piano concerto by Edvard Grieg, at St. James, London.
His numerous arrangements of classical music, jazz and folk music show his desire to break down the barriers between these various styles. From 1999 he has arranged various works for ensembles of 2 to 8 pianos for the Brussels' Pianofolies.
In his original compositions, he investigates the combinatoric aspects of music, trying at the same time to keep the sounding result attractive and accessible to the listener. In 2003, two of his works - the multilingual Rainbow for choir a cappella and the oratorio Dona Nobis Pacem for choir and wind ensemble - were nominated in international competitions for composers.