Willem van Merwijk

Willem van Merwijk (Bemmel, The Netherlands, 1960) is a co-founder of the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet. From 1982 to 2013, he gave concerts the world over with this group, recorded a dozen CDs and won an Edison, a major music prize in the Netherlands. Since 1990 he has been a member of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and regularly performs, composes and arranges for this group. 

Willem van Merwijk is also a composer, writing under the pen name Guillermo Lago. In the course of a few years, Lago has written over sixty compositions, of which about a fourth has been recorded on CD/DVD. His work has been performed worldwide. Lago was invited to write the yearly composition for the National Memorial Day in the Netherlands in 2011. The composition was performed before an audience, including HRH Queen Beatrix, and was broadcast live on national television and radio. In 2013, Lago wrote l’Entrata del Re for the coronation of HM King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. The music was broadcasted live and watched by a worldwide audience.

Willem van Merwijk teaches saxophone and methodology at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and arranging at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU).

 

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