Education
He completed his studies for organ, history of music and composition, inter alia, at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where his most important instructors were Luk Bastiaens, Reitze Smits and Luc van Hove.
SANDOKAI
For some years now, Luc has worked closely with the Berkeley (CA)-based calligrapher, artist and translator Kazuaki Tanahashi (°1933). On the basis of Tanahashi’s new authoritative English translations of the classical Zen texts (in collaboration with internationally renowned Zen Masters such as Joan Halifax and Taigen Dan Leighton), Luc composed SANDOKAI—Zen & Polyphony, a series of 7 works for a capella chorus, performed and recorded by Ensemble Polyfoon founded by Johan Geerts and conducted by Lieven Deroo.
Theatre
He composed music for the musical theatre presentation Liffey by Director Tom Hannes, Choreographer Alexander Baervoets and Sound Artist Ward Weis (Ghent, Kunstencentrum Vooruit—Minard Schouwburg, 2002).
Ensembles
Luc has written music for and upon commission for various ensembles (Carré, Trio Aura, Ictus Ensemble, Ensemble Polyfoon, I Fiamminghi), soloists (Lucy Grauman, Paul De Clerq, Frederik Croene, Veerle Peeters, Isabel Alonso Morillo, Tristan Driessens, Osama Abdulrasol, Lily Moons, Erwin De Bock, Lieselot Watté, Annelies Focqaert) and for the flute and piano duo Lindy Van den Berk and An Van Reeth. His music has been performed in festivals such as November Music, Grenzenloos, De Gentse Feesten and the Festival Van Vlaanderen and has been broadcasted by VRT radio and television and Radio Deutschland.
Aigo
AIGO - a ceremony for consort (second string quartet, with a duration of one hour) was premiered by a viola da gamba quartet (Piet Stryckers, Piet Van Steenbergen, Lies Wyers & Pieter Vandeveire) in the gothic Keizerskapel, Antwerp, on November 11 2011.
KANNON’S PILLOW
On February 12 2012, KANNON'S PILLOW was premiered by Veerle Peeters. The CD recording of this project was released the same day. KANNON’S PILLOW is a seven-part suite for piano (duration 72') in which each part enjoys a particular place and function.
SONGS FROM FIVE SCOOP HUT
An evening-long cycle of 14 songs, SONGS FROM FIVE SCOOP HUT, based on Kazuaki Tanahashi’s new English translation of the poetry of Zen Master Ryokan Taigu (18th-19th century), was premiered on October 19, 2013.
THE REGARDER OF SOUNDS
Film director Konrad Maquestieau created the short film THE REGARDER OF SOUNDS, based upon the KANNON’S PILLOW album. This film premiered in Cinéma Galeries, Brussels (December 2013) and was presented in Antwerp in October 2014 (De Roma theatre) and in Amsterdam (EYE Film museum).
Current projects
In recent years he primarily has written work for solo instruments such as the cello, violin, flute and piano. Upon commission from the peace organisation A World Without Armies (Berkeley, CA), he is currently working on an organ piece entitled Ten Millennium Future.
Inspiration
Nearly all of Luc De Winter’s music is explicitly inspired by the living experience of Zen meditation: remaining in the present moment completely open, awake and alert we spontaneously realize a profound intimacy with the existence that is a gateway to a total consciousness, a complete freedom. He sees his music then as also a furthering of his Zen instruction beyond words.
Last night was just an amazing experience. It was so wonderful… in the center of western civilisation, following the tradition of western music, and then, bringing Dharma, in such a beautiful artistic way, to the general public.
It was amazing: many of us chant the Heart Sutra, Shiguseiganmon, Sandokai and so on, but it added such a dimension, such a beauty to our daily chants.
So I really wish to express my deep gratitude to the composer and the musicians who created this amazing music. I hope that it will be performed and studied, enjoyed in many parts of the world for a long time. So I’m very happy to be part of that.