Musical Maastricht through the eyes of clarinettist Jules Baeten

Jules took a four-year bachelor's degree at the Maastricht Academy of Music after his lessons in the Young Talent Class. He specifically chose the music course in Maastricht because it is truly practice-oriented. 'In Belgium, the focus is more on theory.' He is a big fan of the course 'Your Art as a Business', in which he learned how to promote himself and thus have a better chance of a career in classical music. He has also kept fine contacts from his time at the conservatory. 'I often hung out in the canteen between courses and there was always someone I knew there. When the weather was nice, we would go for a drink in town.'

He found that first year quite tough at times, but he learned a lot from his teacher Roeland Hendrikx. Furthermore, Michèlle Geerlings (teacher at the Academy of Maasmechelen), Rick Hulst (solo clarinettist of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra) and Olivier Patey (solo clarinettist Concertgebouw Amsterdam) are also some of his great examples. 'These people have been very important for my development and I still look up to them.' Michèlle Geerlings is like a mentor to him and he still calls her regularly with questions. He is also still in touch with his fellow students. 'We are in a Whatsapp group together and we often meet up in Maastricht.' He compares his time at the conservatoire to top-class sport. 'It's hard work, but if you succeed, you have a wonderful foundation for your career.'

With its red church tower, the Sint Jan church in Maastricht is not to be missed. 'I am not normally such a churchgoer, but I really like the architecture of St John's,' says Jules. 'I have attended a concert there a few times. The church has a special sound system with which the acoustics can be adjusted. It can be very intimate that way, but a large orchestra can also perform there.' The sound of his own clarinet has also sounded through the medieval church before. 'I played my very first professional concert here, with Michèlle Geerlings.' He was 15 years old at the time, and you don't easily forget such a first concert.

Jules has appeared on the stages of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Rudolfinum in Prague, among others. Yet the stage at the Theater aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht is also special to him. Here he played professionally in a symphonic orchestra for the first time. 'I performed with Philzuid, which had its home base there at the time.' Among other things, he played New Year's concerts there. 'There's a lot of conviviality in Maastricht and we have a fairly regular audience here that you get to know that way. The atmosphere and energy in this venue is just very pleasant. For me, it really feels like coming home here.'

St Theresa's Church has been home to Philzuid, the orchestra in which Jules is first clarinetist, since March 2023. 'The building is really beautiful, a very nice musical home,' Jules said. In 2020, he had already played several productions with the symphony orchestra. As soon as he heard that the position of first clarinetist became available, he seized his chance. A tough round of auditions awaited him. 'From two months before the audition, I studied hours a day and took intensive lessons again. A month before the audition, I stopped drinking alcohol. It wasn't easy, but it was more than worth it in the end.' The realisation that he really is first clarinettist of the symphony orchestra only came when he took his first official seat in the captain's chair.