Els Vandeweyer, a Belgian vibraphonist, composer, and currently residing in Berlin, specializes in the exploration of the middle ground between jazz, classical, and free improvised musical compositions. Vandeweyer started her musical career in the classical music genre, and she focused on contemporary pieces during her studies at Antwerp’s performing arts school. But, when she realized how many pieces mimicked improvised music, she wanted to be able to play it. While she studied jazz at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she graduated in June 2008 with a degree in jazz, she spent almost two years studying abroad, in Portugal and Norway, as well as the United States. She co-founded IMI Kollektief, a quintet that she recorded her first album, ‘Snug as a Gun’ for Clean Feed-label. She spent one year in Oslo, Norway as an exchange student at Musikhogskule. She also worked occasionally with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen Love. Ken Vandermark invited her, after she had finished Norway, to perform in Chicago. She performed with Fred Lonberg–Holm and Tim Daisy, as well as Jeff Parker and Tim Daisy. Vandeweyer became involved in Berlin’s thriving improvised musical community as soon as she moved there. Her trio, Tulip Trees, she co-founded with Almut Kuhne und Brian Mitchell. She primarily improvises in a variety of settings. from http://www.ausland-berlin.de
