Marnix De Cat
Marnix De Cat is a Belgian counter-tenor, conductor, organist and percussion player. He sings and plays music from the 14th to 21st centuries, specializing in old & new polyphony. In 2009 he grounded his own vocal Pluto-ensemble to work out his ideas on different music-scenes, (Ars Nova, Renaissance, Baroque, Early Romanticism and Contemporary Music.) often working together with the viols of the Hathor Consort (Romina Lischka).
He studied at Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege Brussel, and graduated from the Lemmens Institute in Leuven (Hogeschool voor Wetenschap & Kunst, earning a First Prize in organ (under Reitze Smits), harmony and counterpoint. He also studied singing, percussion and fugue, and received a First Prize in choral conducting. (under Erik Van Nevel)
Marnix is a permanent member of the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam (alto, since 2002) with Harry Van der Kamp. This vocal ensemble specialised in madrigal singing and recorded also the whole vocal work of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. From 1996 till 2013 he has been one of the four permanent core members of the Capilla Flamenca, participating in its worldwide tours. Together they recorded about 40 CD’s featering Ars Nova, Ars Subtilior, and the French-Flemish Polyphony repertoire of the 15th an 16th century. Marnix worked out the Project ‘12×12’ a medieval program combined with Stockhausens ‘Tierkreis’, in collaboration with the instrumentistes of ‘Het Collectief’.
He regularly collaborated with the Collegium Vocale Gent, Currende ensemble, Weser Renaissance, Huelgas Ensemble,… He also has been raising his visibility as a soloist as well performing with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt, Jos van Immerseel, Manfred Cordes…
Several modern dance performances co-opted him as a singer for their tours, among others: Iets op Bach (Alain Platel, CdelaB) and Bâche (Koen Augustijnen, CdelaB), and worked with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Capilla Flamenca on “Foi”, wich toured around the world between 2004 and 2010. In 2017 he created with the ECCE dance company a dance performance with polyphonic music from 1450-1650, “Mer-“, a dance performance about loss and grief.
He was asked to prepare the singers of the Collegium Vocale Gent for 2 music-theatre shows: “Escorial” and “The Sightless”(Text:Maeterlinck), both with company LOD and Josse De Pauw. Marnix was replacing organist at St-Michielscathedral Brussels, and for several years first organist at the Church of St-Geertrui in Leuven. He taught at Hogeschool WENK, Campus Lemmensinstituut, Leuven, Belgium and in the “Aquarius-project” for kids (Antwerp), with special accent on music-language and improvisation with children from 6 year on. He had his own keyboardschool in Leuven (1992-1998), for pianists from 4 years old.
Marnix De Cat was the singer-coach of the BL!NDMAN saxophone quartet, and sung solo in their ‘Chromatic’-project.
Together with jazz saxophonist Hugo Boogaerts, he formed the duo OrgaX, a unique combination of organ and saxophones, with an accent on improvisation and a mix of styles. Marnix also formed the project BACH 4/2, a duo on organ with Romina Lischka on viols.
To cap it all, he is also active as a composer and regularly collaborates on music projects for young people, and as a vocal ensemble coach.
You can hear Marnix De Cat on about 95 CD-recordings.