Ronald Van Spaendonck

In 2014 he received the « Fuga Price » and in 2018, the Heritage Commission of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels awarded him the DARCHE FRERES prize for a musician whose entire life is devoted with honor and devotion to the service of musical art. Ronald Van Spaendonck studied the clarinet with Léon Jacot, Walter Boeykens, Anthony Pay (London) and Karl Leister (Berlin). He recorded extensively (Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Supraphon, Fuga Libera...) to great unanimous critical acclaim (Choc du « Monde de la musique », 10 de « répertoire », ffff de « Télérama », « Diapason d'or », « Gramophone » Choice, joker de « crescendo », ...)

In 2014 he received the « Fuga Price » and in 2018, the Heritage Commission of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels awarded him the DARCHE FRERES prize for a musician whose entire life is devoted with honor and devotion to the service of musical art. Ronald Van Spaendonck studied the clarinet with Léon Jacot, Walter Boeykens, Anthony Pay (London) and Karl Leister (Berlin). He recorded extensively (Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Supraphon, Fuga Libera...) to great unanimous critical acclaim (Choc du « Monde de la musique », 10 de « répertoire », ffff de « Télérama », « Diapason d'or », « Gramophone » Choice, joker de « crescendo », ...)

In 2002, he was invited to perform at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo as part of the « JAL Classic Special New Artist Series ». He is a founding member of “Ensemble Kheops” with cellist Marie Hallynck and pianist Muhiddin Dürrüoglu. His other chamber music partners include strings quartets like Skampa, Ysaye, Belcea, Ebène, Szymanowski, Aviv, Modigliani and the Royal string quartet, the pianists Alexandre Tharaud, Johan Schmidt and Frank Braley, the violinists Gidon Kremer, Renaud Capuçon, Graf Mourja, Lisa Batiashvili and Ning Kam, the violists Lise Berthaud, Laurence Power and Antoine Tamestit, the cellists Mischa Maisky, Marc Coppey, Peter Whispelway, Alban Gerhardt and Jean-Guihen Queyras, the flautists Emmanuel Pahud, Marc Grauwels, Gaby Van Riet, Aldo Baerten and many more. Ronald has received numerous international awards as follows: European First Prize at the International TROMP competition, First Prize at the Dos Hermanas International Competition and First Prize at the A.Gi. Mus Wind Instruments International Competition in Rome. He is also Laureat « Juventus » in 1991 and « Rising Star » in 1998, which gave him the opportunity to play in the world's greatest concert halls.

In 2014 he received the « Fuga Price » and in 2018, the Heritage Commission of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels awarded him the DARCHE FRERES prize for a musician whose entire life is devoted with honor and devotion to the service of musical art. Ronald Van Spaendonck studied the clarinet with Léon Jacot, Walter Boeykens, Anthony Pay (London) and Karl Leister (Berlin). He recorded extensively (Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Supraphon, Fuga Libera...) to great unanimous critical acclaim (Choc du « Monde de la musique », 10 de « répertoire », ffff de « Télérama », « Diapason d'or », « Gramophone » Choice, joker de « crescendo », ...)

Philippe Tondre is a passionate chamber musician and is regularly invited to the Kissinger Sommer Festival, the Boswiller Sommer Switzerland, the Molyvos International Festival Greece, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Tokyo Spring Festival, the Mozart Fest Würzburg, the Winter Arts Festival Sotchi Russia, the Festival de Besançon France and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New-York. He performs with international artists including Yuri Bashmet, Heinz Holliger, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Maximilian Hornung, Radek Baborak, Maurice Bourgue, Olga Watts, the ARD Quintet, the Lotus String Quartet, the CHAARTS Ensemble and the Modigliani Quartet.

As principal oboe, he plays with leading orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Paris Orchestra, the Zurich Opera and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.Philippe is prizewinner of all the major international competitions, namely the 65th Geneva International Music Competition Switzerland (3rd Prize), the Sony Music Foundation’s International Oboe Competition Karuizawa Japan (2nd Prize), the Fernand Gillet- Hugo Fox Oboe Competition USA (1st Prize) and the Prague Spring International Music Competition (3rd Prize). As youngest finalist in Prague, he was awarded the Gustav Mahler Prize by the Mahler Association 2000 Vienna.

One highlight of the last season was Philippe’s collaboration with leading pianist Danae Doerken which bloomed into CD recordings with SWR Classic and Klarthe Label France, proposing rediscovered German repertoire, a Schumann cycle, French and Slavonic repertoire. Born in Mulhouse France in 1989, Philippe played in the French National Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. After studying ten years with Yves Cautrès, he joined David Walter’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and followed the teaching of masters such as Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue, Nathalie Stutzmann, Jacques Tys, Jean-Louis Capezzali, Ingo Goritzki and Dominik Wollenweber. At the age of 18, while studying in Paris, he was appointed principal oboe of the South West Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart.In November 2015 Philippe Tondre was nominated Professor for Oboe at the Hochschule für Musik Saar. He gives masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Germany.

We are proud to welcome Philippe Tondre as he has joined the Buffet Crampon family in 2020.