Karel Steylaerts, violoncello
Karel
Steylaerts was a student of Luc Tooten.
Afterwords he studied with Carlo Smchmitz at the Brussels Royal Conservatory,
where he graduated magna cum laude in cello and chamber music. He subsequently
studied with Maria Kliegel at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and
performed with orchestras under a number of famous conductors, like Claudio
Abbado, Antal Dorati and Leonard Bernstein.
Karel Steylaerts won the tenuto competition organized by the
Flemisch Radio and Television.
In 1990, together with the violinist Peter Despiegelaere and the pianist Jan
Vermeulen, he formed the Fortepiano Trio Florestan, since renamed the Tröndling
Trio. Their three CD's on Koch-Discover were praised both nationally and internationally;
their CD with Haydn trios was named best Belgian and second best Internationam
production by the Vuurproef program of the Belgian classical radio station
Klara.
He has played in the Sinfonia chamber orchestra, the BRTN Philharmonic (now: Flemisch Radio orchestra) and as a principal cellist in the Royal Flemisch Philharmonic, with whom he premiered "Canti", a cello concerto by Frédéric Devreese.
At present he is the cello soloist of the Beethoven Academie and he regulary plaus with the Ensemble Modern-Frankfurt. His instrument is a 1770 Venetian cello.