Bruxell'A Cappella

Michiel was born in 1982 and grew up in a musical family where choral music always played an important role. He was singing before he could speak and as a young boy he joined the children’s choir Clari Cantuli in Kessel-Lo (Leuven). This choir was founded by his mother, Ria Vanwing, in 1989, along with the youth choir Clari Cantus, which she founded in 1990. Shortly after this, he became head chorister of the Gregorian boys’ choir ‘Koristen van Keizersberg’ in Leuven.

As his remarkable voice became gradually more noticed, he was frequently asked to sing as a soloist. This is how his association started with Dirk Brossé, who asked Michiel to record the lead role of the child in his ethnic symphony ‘Artesia’. The recording lead to an intense and enriching period of 3 years, in which Michiel toured Flanders in countless performances of ‘Artesia’.

In 2000, at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, Michiel started studying first the bassoon, then singing. Here his love of song and choral singing soon became more apparent. He soon joined professional ensembles such as Currende, Ex Tempore and the Goeyvaerts Consort.

His other passion, tourism and aviation, lead to a 3-year adventure abroad, after which family and musical ties called him home.

Since his return in 2008, he has been singing as a freelance tenor in the Vlaams Radio Koor, Currende, the Victoria Consort, Studium Chorale (Maastricht, The Netherlands) and the Orpheus Vokalenensemble (Germany).

In 2013, Michiel obtained an MA in singing under the tutorship of Lieve Jansen at the LUCA School of Arts. He acquired a second MA from the same institution in 2014, this time in choral conducting under the tutorship of Erik van Nevel.

In early 2010 Michiel took over the youth choir Clari Cantus from his mother. Here he soon showed proof of the fact that conducting is in his blood, by winning the prestigious title ‘Choir of the Year’ in 2011. In 2013, he started conducting the personnel choir of Bozar in Brussels and in addition to this, he directs the choir of the poetry and drama department of the arts college connected to the Lemmensinsituut. In 2013 he took on the artistic directorship of the Carmina Chamber Choir in Meise, where he staged an impressive and well-received Monteverdi project in May 2014.