Andrew Claes

Andrew Claes (1982) began his musical studies at the age of nine at the Berchem Music Academy, where he studied classical guitar with Frank Liègeois. At the age of twelve, he began playing electric bass as his second instrument with Marc Emmerman, and a year later took up saxophone as his third instrument with Willy Bauweraerts.

After hearing John Coltrane, it soon became clear that the tenor saxophone was his instrument of choice.

Meanwhile, Andrew was also active as a producer of electronic dance music. At the age of seventeen, he made his debut with the club hit Gods of House (Byte Progressive), together with Arno Driessens and Ramon Tapia, under the name Monastic Project.

After completing his general studies in Human Sciences at OLV Pulhof in Berchem and taking additional private saxophone lessons with Ben Sluijs, he enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2000, studying with Jeroen Van Herzeele. In 2001, he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, with Ben Sluijs and, from 2003 onwards, Kurt Van Herck, with whom he continues to study to this day. During internships and workshops, he further studied with Erwin Vann, Bo Van der Werf and Daniel Stokart.

Meanwhile, he continued composing and producing music for various theatre productions (De salonhelden, Medea, Barre Weldaad, Gruwelpeter), fashion events (Antwerp Landed), films (Tita, Matthias Lebeer), dance music (JMJ The Vision, Raptors Vision Records), solo work (Qinetic), and collaborations with, among others, Jan de Haas, Chantal Willie and Jan Willems, Domien Holthof, and others.

In addition to Muni, Andrew can also be heard in Cosa Nova, an electro-acoustic free-form band for which he develops and performs multimedia concepts (music/dance/video) together with Steven Cassiers, including Between Space & Earth and Exit/Entrance. He also composes and produces for the group.

As a saxophonist, he also performs with Lijm (the group led by Ben Iriks), Cunning Trio (a biweekly gathering at Café Cottonfields in Antwerp with Nicolas Rombauts and Bart Verhulst), Slam (with Bette Crijns), Transglobal Express (a multimedia production by Steven Willemsen), as well as various other groups with changing line-ups.