Hendrik Lasure, a keyboardist and composer from Bruges, has established himself as a prominent figure in the Belgian music scene. His musical journey began with classical violin and piano lessons, but it was the discovery of improvisation that really got him going.
After completing his master’s degree in jazz piano at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Lasure stood out by developing his own musical language. His first album as a bandleader with the ensemble warm bad, ‘Garden Head’ (W.E.R.F.records), garnered rave reviews and earned him the 2020 Sabam Jazz Award. The album release of ‘Garden Head’ was followed by an extensive club tour throughout Flanders, organized in collaboration with JazzLab.
For 10 years, Lasure has formed the duo schntzl with Brussels musician Casper Van De Velde, functioning as a sound laboratory where they explore the boundaries of their own taste. This results in a constantly evolving sound palette that has transformed over the years from quiet minimalism to grotesque, jarring electronics, always staying close to a melancholic core.
In addition to the projects that Lasure leads (or co-leads), he is a sideman in various ensembles including Bombataz, Thunderblender, Easy Pieces, An Pierlé Quartet, Louise Van Den Heuvel’s Sonic Hug and Marco Giongrandi.
In his capacity as a composer, Lasure is regularly asked to play a role in other artistic disciplines: he composes for theater and dance performances (Vanish Beach – de HOE, Talk Show – Suze Milius, Moving Ballads – Femke Gyselinck, Sylvia – Fabrice Murgia, Torment of Hearts – Femke Gyselinck…) and composes film scores (TRIO – Vanden Broecke, Beeckmans, Simoni; Here I Go – Jaan Stevens; The Fruit Tree – Isabelle Tollenaere).
On his first solo album, ‘Het Wiel’ (Unday Records, November 18, 2022), Lasure showed a much more personal side of himself. He sings for the first time in Dutch, or rather a bizarre in-between-dialects version of his mother tongue, accompanying himself on guitar. He invited his parents to play clarinet and flute parts, even though both parents had not played their wind instruments for years. In this way, Hendrik deliberately took a step away from ‘academic’ virtuosity, towards figurative nakedness and wonder. ‘Het Wiel’ was presented live with a release tour in 2023.
Currently, Hendrik is writing new solo work to be released in the end of 2026.
Hendrik Lasure 