Michel Grens

At the age of fifteen he decided to conquer the world of music. His favourite weapon would have been a saxophone, but unfortunately the brass band at Hengelo had only a trombone to put at his disposal. A local bag-pipe band persuaded him to switch over to percussion, and his granny, acting out of pure enthusiasm, provided him with a drum-kit. Thus began a period of some years at Hengelo's school of music. He then drummed his way through preparatory school and the first year of Enschede conservatory, after which he moved to Rotterdam conservatory. There he studied with, among others, Willem Heesen, Ruud Wiener, Fred Krens, and finally with Robert van Sice. In the course of his studies he wrote a number of compositions for percussion ensembles and developed a percussion technique of his own. His training as a classical percussionist sent him far into the rear ranks of, among others, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. His interest in light music landed him in productions such as the musical 'Cabaret', in addition to which he also composed film music. Before joining Flairck he moreover held a teaching post at Rotterdam conservatory (school music department) and taught rhythmical training workshops at the Rotterdam School of Music. For the duration of Flairck's forthcoming tour the jungle of tuned and untuned percussion instruments that usually fills his house in West-Rotterdam has been removed to the stages of the Dutch theatres.