Koen Van Assche, born in 1967 in Antwerp, Belgium, studied music and took flute lessons in Antwerp, began learning to play the carillon at the Royal Carillon School Jef Denyn in Mechelen in 1981, and graduated from that institution in 1986. He is city carillonneur of Herentals, Louvain, and Turnhout, and has won prizes at several international carillon competitions. Koen Van Assche gives regular recitals in Europe and has performed many times in the USA, including at the three carillon festivals in Springfield, Illinois, Lake Wales, Florida, and Berkeley, California. He is also known for his performances of music combining carillon with other instruments. He has recorded several CD's for carillon including one of "The Four Seasons" of Antonio Vivaldi and one of music by Frédéric Chopin. He was a guest professor at the master class of the Scandinavian Carillon School in 2000 and the Roosevelt Academy of Music in the Netherlands and has served on the juries of many carillon competitions and examinations. Mr. Van Assche is also a board member of the Flemish Carillon Guild and a member of the Executive Committee of the World Carillon Federation. He is the author of a playing method for the carillon and teaches carillon at the academies of music in Haaltert (Ninove), Borgerhout and Lier.
