Guy Van Nueten

Guy Van Nueten (born July 25, 1965 in Turnhout) is a Belgian composer, pianist and producer.

Guy Van Nueten began playing piano at the age of 5, when he was sent to the local music school by his mother. As a result of this, he found he was able to read music before the written word. Around the age of 15 he started to show an interest in pop/rock music and following his studies in mathematical economics, he threw himself fully into a musical career.

During his time with The Sands their nameless debut album was produced by Bill Janovitz of American group Buffalo Tom and issued worldwide by Universal. The group went on to tour throughout Europe with the likes of John Cale. Among the numbers written by Guy Van Nueten for The Sands was the Belpop classic April and June, a track that can still be heard on the radio more than 20 years on and crops up regularly in the "Top 100 Belgian songs of all time".

Around 1998 a musical change became a necessity for him and he enrolled in the conservatory for composition and harmony and studied piano under the internationally renowned teacher Jacques de Tiège. Van Nueten now refers to this episode by saying: "Before, the piano played along with me; now it’s me who plays the piano."

He has also composed for film-makers, theatre directors and choreographers, as well as for famous theatre companies from the Benelux countries such as Toneelhuis, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Les Ballets C de la B, deFilharmonie and HETPALEIS. For the last of these he penned the musical Soepkinders in 2005, winner of a Flemish Musical Award. In the film world he has written soundtracks for directors Koen Mortier (Ex Drummer) and Alex Stockman (Eva in 2006, an award-winner at the Venice Film Festival, and Pulsar, featuring Matthias Schoenaerts, in 2012). His music for the Ballets C de la B dance production Bâche (2005) was hailed a masterpiece by the music magazine OOR for its "unique combination of a modern electronic sonic feast coupled with sensitive Elizabethan music."

As performer and/or arranger he can be heard on gold records by dEUS, Admiral Freebee, Zita Swoon, Magnus, Tim Vanhamel and DAAN. Two of his songs figure on the "Top 100 Belgian Songs of All Time" list in Knack magazine and the double CD Tom Barman en Guy Van Nueten – Live (recorded with dEUS singer Tom Barman), for which he wrote and performed the piano parts, was issued throughout Europe and appeared in many Top 10 lists for best CDs of 2003.

In the autumn of 2009 he published Merg, a contemporary classical solo album with nods to baroque music and his hero Johann Sebastian Bach, and with song titles such as "Adagio not in B", "Aggression Var. 1" or "Impro The Fruit". The follow-up "Pacman" appeared in 2013 and was described by cobra.be as being "timeless and free from all trends", while Dimitri Verhulst, writing in Humo, named it "the best CD of 2013."

Theatre, Musical, Dance, Contemporary dance

• Het Beest, Froefroe/HetPaleis, director: Marc Maillard (2000)
• Beautiful Red Dress, Podium Modern, director: Manou Kersting (2001)
• Winter onder de Tafel, HetPaleis, director: Peter de Graef (2002-2004)
• Of Mice and Men, Laika/Blauw4, director: Jo Roets (2003-2005)
• Villa Fink, Laika/De Blauwe Engel, director: Noël Fisher (2003)
• Hotel Tomilho, Laika, concept: Peter De Bie, director: Jo Roets (2004, 2005, 2007)
• bâche, Les Ballets C de la B, choreographer: Koen Augustijnen (2004-2006)
• Children of the Soup (musical), Laika/HetPaleis, lyrics: Gerda Dendooven, director: Jo Roets (2005-2008), (1 musical-award)
• Merg (Marrow), de Roovers, text: Judith Herzberg, director: de Roovers (2006)
• Import-Export, Les Ballets C de la B, choreographer: Koen Augustijnen (2006-2008)
• Fashion show Dries Van Noten (together with dEUS), men's collection, Milan (6/2007)
• Maria Magdalena, Toneelhuis, director: Wayn Traub (2008)
• De 7 hoofdzonden, Cellopalladio, artistic coördination: Katelijn Van Kerckhove (2009)
• The Twig Child (musical), Laika, lyrics: Gerda Dendooven, director: Jo Roets (2009-2010, 2013-2014)
• Moederland (musical theatre), Theater Stap, director: Lies Van Assche (2010-2011)
• Verveling, Strange Fruit, choreographer: Amar Al Bojrad (2012, 2015)
• WDSASE, Monty, choreographer: Duraid Al Abbas (2013)
• Solitary Confinement, Moussem, choreography: Strange Fruit (2013)
• The Medium (musical theatre), Walpurgis, director: Judith Vindevogel (2015)
• Skin, Compagnie Malka (FRA), choreographer: Bouba Landrille Tchouda (2014, 2015)
• Boredom, WPZimmer /Sundance Institute (USA)/KunstZ (2016, 2017)

Motion picture

• A few animated shorts by students of the Kask, Gent (1990–92)
• Pâques au Tison (together with Jef Mercelis), La Parti Production, director: Martine Doyen (2002)
• Wolf, SkaGen, director: SkaGen (2003)
• Jaguar (short), director: Willem Thijssen (2003)
• De Balletten en ci en là, documentary, director: Alain Platel (2006)
• Eva reste au placard...(short 30 min), director: Alex Stockman (2006) (selection Venice film festival; ‘best european short’ film festival Evora, Portugal 2007)
• Ex-drummer (together with a.o. Arno), CCCP, director: Koen Mortier (2006) (‘Tiger Award’ festival Rotterdam 2007; ‘Best First Feature’ Fantasia festival 2008 ; ‘Best debut feature’ Raindance festival 2007; ‘Special Jury Award’ Warschau festival 2007)
• ‘Corporate’ en ‘Photo’, (2 corporate films), Caviar, director: Kurt Maes (2007) (‘best product/production movie’ festival of the corporate film, Antwerp 2008)
• Sing The Blues (short), director: Marc Goyens (2007)
• Axa ‘i-plus’, (TV advertising), Czar, director: Koen Mortier (2008)
• Axa ‘happy family’ (TV advertising), Czar, director: Dimitri Karakatsanis (2008)
• Gentle Creature (short), CCCP, director: Marc Roels (2009) (best Belgian short, festival Ghent 2009)
• First Things First (short), (Humo-award) director: Arne Focketyn (2010)
• Pulsar, Corridor Films, director: Alex Stockman (2009-2010) (selection film festival Locarno, preis der Deutsche Filmkritik, film festival Hamburg)
• Epilogue, (documentary), Serendipity Films, director: Manno Lanssens (2011)
• Nuru (animated short), Walking The Dog, director: Michaël Palmaers (2011) ( best animated short Palm Springs film festival, best animated short Rhode Island film festival)
• Milo, Samson Films (IRL) & Fuworks (NTL), directors: Berend en Roel Boorsma (2011-2012) (Giffoni Flm Festival ‘CGS Award’, Cinékid Award ‘best international children’s movie 2012’)
• Ex-smokers, (4 TV-ads), Czar, director: Koen Mortier (2012)
• Art's Birthday, Muhka Media (2013)
• Artaud, le Surréel et les Tarahumaras, Blauer Reiter Filmproduktion (GER), director: Lara Quaglia (2013)
• Brussels: a city caught on film (a collection of silent movies), Royal Film Archive of Belgium (2014)
• Le choix de peindre-Van Gogh (documentary) (together with Alan Gevaert), Alizé/ RTBF/Arte, director: Henri de Gerlache (2014)
• Mobistar 'Cold Soup' (TV-ad), Czar, director: Joe Vanhoutteghem (2015)
• Antwerpen Lage Emissiezone (TV-ad), Czar, director: Salsa (2016)
• The Bicky Beef Miracle (TV-ad), Czar, director: Koen Mortier (2016)
• Raoul Servais, mémoires d'un artisan (documentary), LesFilmsDuCarré, director: Bastien Martin (2017)
• Night Has Come, Inti Films, director: Peter Van Goethem (2017-2018)

Autonomous

• Dansstudie1, trio for oboe, cello and piano, creation 4/1999 De Singel, Antwerpen
• Dansstudie 2, trio for vibraphone, euphonium and piano, creation 5/2000 De Singel, Antwerpen
• Merg (Marrow), piano solo (2006-2010)
• Avaritia, Nel Mezzo del Cammin, Divina Commedia, for 7 celli and choir (2009)
• Belangrijke werken (important works), Trio for oboe, cello and piano (2012)
• Pacman, piano solo (2013-)
• To hit a Dog, just find a stick, string quartet (2015)
• Piano Solo III (2017)

• Production ‘April & June’ (Boom!Records 1992)
• Co-production ‘The Sands’ (Universal 1995)
• Production ‘…And Other True Stories’ (Universal 1996)
• Musical arrangements ‘Bridgeburner’ by Daan (Tracks/Lowlands 2002)
• Orchestrations final concert ‘Bruges cultural capital 2002’ for the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, directed by Lucas Vis
• Piano adaptations ‘Live’ by Tom Barman and Guy Van Nueten (Universal 2003)
• Piano adaptations English baroque music ‘bâche’ (2004)
• Holy Shit, De Queeste (2004)
• Production Van Nueten & Dugardin: ‘bâche’ (Bolli Records/Lowlands 2004)
• Adaptations for string quartet French baroque music ‘Import-Export’ (2006)
• Musical arrangement ‘Men’s collection 2008’, Dries Van Noten (2007)
• Production ‘Merg’ (piano solo), Bolli Records/Bang! (2009)
• Orchestration and musical production ‘Milo’, Fuworks (2011-2012)
• Remix Kieslowski (CZE) (2013)
• Production ‘Pacman' (piano solo), Bolli Records (2013)
• Musical production ‘Le choix de peindre-Van Gogh’ (Alizé/ RTBF/Arte 2014)
• Production 'Music for a Small Orchestra', (soundtrack), Bolli Records (2015)
• Production 'Contact' (piano solo), Bolli Records/Sony Classical (2018)

The Sands:

• The Sands (Megadisc/MCA, 1995)
• …and otherTrue Stories (Megadisc/MCA, 1996)

Tom Barman & Guy Van Nueten:

• Live (Universal, 2003)

Van Nueten & Dugardin:

• Bâche (Bolli Records/Lowlands, 2004)

Guy Van Nueten:

• Merg (Bolli Records/62TV/PIAS, 2009)
• Pacman (Bolli Records, 2013)
• Music ForA Small Orchestra (soundtrack Milo) (Bolli Records, 2015)