Tomma Wessel

Contemporary recorder

Recorder player Tomma Wessel devotes herself to performing early and contemporary music. She has been invited to perform at major venues and festivals. Her intensive collaborations with composers have led to the creation of dozens of new compositions (notably by Luc Brewaeys, Alvin Curran, Moritz Eggert, Marta Gentilucci, Helmut Oehring, Frederik Neyrinck, Frank Nuyts, Stefan Prins, Frederic Rzewski, Matthew Shlomowitz, Heleen Van Haegenborgh, Annelies Van Parijs, Christian Wolff and many others).

Tomma is co-founder of the Apsara ensemble. Apsara is a flexible ensemble built around the recorder, with recorder players Katelijne Lanneau and Ines Rasbach in addition to Tomma. Since its creation in 2000, the ensemble has followed its own path in the field of early and new music. In addition to the improbably rich instrumentation of recorders, Apsara also likes to play, for example, giant slide recorders or toy instruments. Apsara often uses (live) electronics and regularly collaborates with other musicians and composers. As a member of the Letter Piece Company, Tomma has also worked regularly with dancer Shila Anaraki and composer Matthew Shlomowitz. She has performed with orchestras and ensembles such as Ex Tempore, Ictus, Musica Antiqua Köln, Champ d'Action, Prometheus-Ensemble, Spectra and The Flemish Symphony Orchestra.

She teaches contemporary music for the recorder at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. She also teaches recorder, chamber music and experimental music at the Kunstacademie De Poel in Ghent. Following her studies at the Orpheus Institute Ghent/University of Leiden, she is currently pursuing a doctorate at the VUB/KCB on contemporary recorder techniques. As part of this, she has developed the 'Fast nur Luft' concert format for solo recorder, with or without electronics. A kaleidoscopic universe is created by commissioning specific techniques from composers of different styles.