Pauwels, Tom International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn

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Born in Bornem, Belgium, in 1974, he studied classical guitar in Brussels, Cologne, and Munster with Albert Sundermann, Hubert Käppel, and Reinbert Evers, respectively. In 1995, during his studies at the Brussels Conservatoire, he was the cofounder of Black Jackets Company, a Brussels collective of composers and performers. Ever since these early experiments he has been active in the field of contemporary music, both on the classical and electric guitar. 

From 1999 until 2001 he was a regular member of Champ d’Action, the Antwerp-based ensemble for experimental music. Since 2002 he has been the artistic coleader for the new music ensemble Ictus in Brussels. Project-wise, he performs with the London-based Plus–Minus ensemble. 

He has recorded works by Paul Craenen, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthew Shlomowitz, Stefan Van Eycken, Christophe Guiraud, and Christopher Trapani as well as by Helmut Oehring, Keiko Harada, Fausto Romitelli, and Georges Aperghis with Ictus Ensemble (for Cyprès). 

After a five-year research project on new music for guitar he became a Laureate of the Orpheus Institute with the thesis De Echo van ‘t Saluut. In 2002–17 he taught new music for guitar at the Conservatoire of Ghent, where he developed an advanced master programme with emphasis on contemporary chamber music in collaboration with the Spectra ensemble and Ictus. 

His broad interest in performance has led to collaborations with choreographers as Xavier Le Roy (Mouvements für Lachenmann), Maud Le Pladec (ProfessorPoetry, and Concrete), and Andros Zins-Browne (The Funerals).