Roel Willems (born 1973) began his professional career as a scientist, a path that ultimately earned him the title of Doctor of Biochemistry. The results of his research on blood and bone marrow cancers have been published in scientific journals such as The Journal of Biological Chemistry and Experimental Hematology. During this academic career, his passion for music grew ever stronger. Ultimately, he decided to leave the laboratory for the concert hall. Since then, Roel has emerged as a versatile musician, active as a tenor, flutist, and conductor.
After five years of training at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Dina Grossberger, Roel became a professional tenor. As a choir singer, he is a permanent member of the Flemish Radio Choir (VRK), where he regularly works with top ensembles such as the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The VRK recently won the “Best Recording: Opera” award at the 2024 International Opera Awards for his album “Louise Bertin: Fausto.”
As a flutist, trained by Toon Fret and Frank Hendrickx, he obtained his Master of Music diploma with great honors from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2007. Roel distinguished himself by reaching the finals of the 2006 Benelux Flute Competition for soloists and has freelanced at the Philharmonic under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe and with I Solisti del Vento, among others.
In recent years, however, the flute has increasingly been replaced by the baton. In 2008, he became the permanent conductor of the Junior Orchestra of Youth and Music Antwerp. After extensive reforms at Youth and Music, he co-founded Amaj Jong Symfonisch in 2016, an organization that aims to coordinate symphonic youth activities throughout Flanders. Within Amaj, Roel remained the permanent conductor of the Junior Orchestra for several more years, introducing the young musicians to music from all corners of the world: from night-of-the-prom concerts and Argentine tango to Japanese film scores and Hans Zimmer. In 2023, he passed the baton to conductor Sander Vets, but to this day, Roel remains active within Amaj as artistic director.
In 2013, Roel became the conductor of the Arenberg Orchestra. Since then, he has enthusiastically contributed to the orchestra’s strong profile, where young musicians, regardless of their instrumental level, are given the opportunity to perform a highly diverse symphonic repertoire as a high-quality collective. In this way, we strive to transport the audience to a comprehensive spectacle full of surprises.