Joint Venture Percussion Duo
Click for Rachel's Bio & Duo Bio
Born in Luxembourg in 1988, percussionist Laurent Warnier discovered his passion for music at the age of 6. He began his percussion studies at the local wind band of Sanem, and entered the percussion class of Paul Mootz and Serge Kettenmeyer at the Conservatory of Esch/Alzette soon after. In addition to his main field, he concurrently studied chamber music, piano, jazz, conducting and musical education. He won a Medaille d’Or (gold medal) at the Concours des Jeunes Solistes (Union Grand-Duc Adolphe, Luxembourg) in 2004 and 2006 and was awarded three solo recitals in Luxembourg.
He obtained the Premier Prix (diploma) at the conservatory in Luxembourg and was accepted shortly after to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he studied with Peter Prommel, Arnold Marinissen, Victor Oskam and the percussion section of the Concertgebouw Orchestra: Nick Woud, Jan Pustjens, Gustavo Gimeno and Mark Braafhart.
In 2008, Laurent went to China with the Amsterdam Percussion Quartet, giving performances in Harbin Normal University, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Central Conservatory of Music and Shenzhen Music Hall. In the same year, Laurent formed the Joint Venture Percussion Duo together with percussionist Rachel Xi Zhang of China.
In September 2009, Laurent became an assistant to Prof. Peter Prommel in the mallet department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He performed the Vibraphone Concerto by Emmanuel Séjourné with the Amsterdam Percussion Orchestra as the soloist at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in June 2010 and at the Tromp Percussion Festival in November of 2010.
Laurent’s passion for new music has led him to work with contemporary music ensembles such as the Ives Ensemble, the Paradiso Orchestra, the Amsterdam Collage Ensemble and Looptail Ensemble in the Netherlands; in Germany, he has worked with Das Neue Ensemble and Circus S Ensemble of Hannover; furthermore, he has worked with the Omnibus Ensemble from Uzbekistan.
Laurent is also active as a jazz musician; he has performed with the Sore Tappaz Frank Zappa Cover Band, the hip-hop/jazz project of the Tine Grgurevic Septet and the Jazz Group of Murat Yatmaz. In 2011, he collaborated with Mr. Gunther Schuller in a performance of George Russell’s Lydian M-1, playing the vibraphone solo part during The Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival.
Laurent received his bachelor diploma in 2011 from the Conservatory in Amsterdam and is now pursuing his Masters degree at The Boston Conservatory, majoring in marimba, studying with the world famous marimbist Nancy Zeltsman.
© Joint Venture Percussion Duo 2013
photo by Claudia Hansen
