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The Belgian violinist, Guido de Neve, appeared to be extraordinarily musically gifted already at a very early age. At the exceptionally young age of 11 he was accepted at the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory. Few years later he obtained the First Prize summa cum laude and with special congratulations of the jury. Later on prizes in competitions such as 'Andres Segovia' in Granada, 'Maria Canals' in Barcelona and the 'Medaille d'or' at the Festival des Jeunes Solistes de Bordeaux followed. In Brussels he was laureate of Tenuto whereas the jury of the Cera-Prize crowned him as Flanders' most promising young musician.
In 1984 Guido de Neve met the Hungarian violinist Sandor Végh in Assisi. This acquaintance influenced his further development thoroughly. Especially during the following 6 years of intense self tuition, a period during which he developed his very personal way of interpreting. This dedication was rewarded both at home and abroad. British newspapers were not the only ones to be enthusiastic. The Swedish newspaper Lysekil Posten did not hesitate either: “Music lovers should absolutely keep in mind the name of Guido de Neve's, he may well be a future world star”. Braunschweiger Zeitung saw “...doubtlessly a rising star at the violin sky” and De Morgen's Fred Brouwers recognized in the young virtuoso “...the new torchbearer of the Belgian violin school... De Bériot, Vieutemps, Ysaÿe, Grumiaux flashed through my head”.
In 1989 Guido de Neve founded the Eugène Ysaÿe Ensemble, playing chamber music together with Flanders’ most talented young musicians. That resulted in 1996 in founding the Spiegel String Quartet, where he played the first violin during six years.
After many years of concerts and playing, Guido de Neve took an artistic sabbath during the following two years, a period of contemplation and rediscovering. His search for different kinds and qualities of sound, brought him to playing the Baroque violin, something he already wanted to do for a couple of years, but never had the chance to. All of this resulted in a completely new direction. Since 2004, he performs on modern violin as well as on Baroque violin. Together with Jan Michiels on pianoforte, he played the whole cycle of L.v. Beethoven sonatas on historical instruments. Also solo programs with J.S. Bach on Baroque violin and Ysaÿe and Xenakis on modern instruments are the result of this thorough revitalisation. In 2006, Guido de Neve formed a new piano trio, “Trio Ysaÿe”, together with Boyan Vodenitcharov (piano) and Didier Poskin (cello), here again using the sounds of both historical and modern instruments. He has been a member Ensemble Explorations, but later also as a soloist and in duo. He forms a duo with harpsichordist Frank Agsteribbe, with whom he performs music by Antonio Vivaldi and J.S. Bach on a Baroque instrument built by Hendrik Willems in 1692.
However, Guido de Neve is not merely a passionate violinist: he is widely appreciated for his research and 'restoration' of unpublished manuscripts. He discovered for example entirely forgotten masterworks of a.o. G. Lekeu, E. Ysaÿe, J. Jongen and A. De Boeck, whose creations met with an enormous success both in the auditorium and on compact disc. de Neve has also become a source of inspiration for contemporary composers. In recent years, lots of works were written both for and with him. For this effort in favour of making Belgian composers known, he obtained the 1993 Willem Pelemans Prize.
Besides all this, Guido de Neve is a very enthusiastic pedagogue. Teaching violin and chamber music at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, he presents all his skills and knowledge to the younger generation.
Guido de Neve plays one of the only remaining violins of the Antwerp violin maker Mathys Hofmans built in 1650. For performances on historical instruments, he plays a Hendrik Willems from 1692. |
