Wil Offermans


Through his concerts and compositions, Wil Offermans has become known for his creative and contemporary approach both on stage as well as in his teaching. Major inspiration he gathered during his travels and concert tours around the world, especially to Asia and Japan, where his music has been received with great enthusiasm. His compositions has been performed by renowned flutists around the world as well as many flute ensembles. At this website you can find extended information on his concerts, compositions, teaching and more.

Biography

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Wil Offermans, born in Maastricht, Holland, graduated from the Brabants Conservatory, Holland, in classical flute as well as in improvised music. In 1985/1986 he made a seven month world-wide flute-performance titled Round About 12.5. This solo project took him to 18 countries (in Europe, Africa, Asia, North & South America) not only for concerts, but also to research many ethnic flutes. He has performed his music extensively in many different situations all over the world, both as a soloist as well as with musicians like Tetsu Saito; Moteteru Takagi; Michihiro Sato; Sawai Kazue; Takehisa Kosugi; Llorenc Barber; Paul Termos; Jack Palinckx a.o. With Junko Ueda (biwa & voice) he performed e.g. all over Europe, in the US and Canada, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Colombia and Indonesia at festivals like Festival d'été de Quebec; Musique Action Nancy and the Singapore Festival of Arts. He has been awarded with the Kuiper prize 2002 of the Dutch Flute Society.


Creations

Wil Offermans recorded on E-Records, BVHaast, and VDE-Gallo and his compositions have been published by Musikverlag Zimmermann (Germany); Doblinger (Austria); Zenon (Japan) and Sejong Publishers (Korea).
  • Click here for an overview of his main compositions.
  • Click here for an overview of his current concert repertoire.
  • Click here for an overview of his main recordings.

Interculture

With the intention to stimulate the contemporary and intercultural approach concerning flute playing he created the foundation The Magic Flute and a flute ensemble, which toured Japan in 1997. In 1998 he founded the Contemporary European Flute Ensemble eWave, uniting players from all over Europe. In 2001 he composed the citizens involving Dejima Suite for the celebration of the 400 year relationship Holland-Japan (Nagasaki). In 2003, eWave started a European project with GRAME, Lyon (5 new European live-electronic compositions), for which he composed OnTheMove (commission Gaudeamus).
Offermans also has been active in a wider cultural field of promoting and producing multicultural art projects especially towards Japan. In 2003 he started a working studio in Granada, Spain. Since 2000 he is organizing the annual intercultural project 12xHolland introducing Dutch artists to Japan. In 2007 he initiated another intercultural project with Japan named BSXCaravan.


As a Teacher

Offermans has given his flute workshps in numerous settings including the Hague Royal Conservatory, Holland; Hochschule Hamburg, Germany; Conservatoire Royal de Mons, Belgium; University of Music, Vienna, Austria; New England Conservatory Boston, USA; University of Michigan, USA; Kunitachi College of Music Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai Conservatory, China; Seoul University, Korea; Frankfurt Flute Festival, Germany; Flute Festival Boswil, Switzerland; the US Flute Convention 2003 (Las Vegas) and the Japan Flute Convention 2003 (Fukuoka). In 2001, he was a flute teacher at the Brabants Conservatory, Holland. Since more than 15 years Offermans has been presenting a Flute Day for amateur groups and children, especially at music schools throughout Europe and Asia. Since 1992 he is organizing an annual Flute Summer Course. Since 1997 he developed the Thumpy® flute: an exciting thumb flute for educational as well as performance purpose and an enjoyable alternative for both flutists and children.


Flutes

Wil Offermans currently is mainly performing on the following instruments:
  • Gold Flute: by Kotato & Fukushima; 18K; open-holes; B-foot joint; additional open-thumb
  • Silver Flute: by Haynes in 1963; open-holes; B-foot joint; additional open-thumb; Lafin headjoint
  • Bass flute in C: by Kotato & Fukushima; B-foot-joint; open-keys (thumb; A; G and E); trill-keys
  • Contrabass Flute in C: by Kotato & Fukushima, B-foot-joint; trill-keys
  • Thumb Flute: by Wil Offermans; serial# 1; blackwood; for more visit the Thumpy Homepage
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18 K Gold Flute
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Silver Flute
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Bass Flute
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Contrabass Flute
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Thumpy Flute