EMMA WILLS, CLASSICAL GUITARIST

A former Promising Young Musician 2022 in 'De Twintigers' at the national classical radio Klara, Vocatio-Laureate 2023 for her vocation The Revival of Forgotten Romantic guitar repertoire performed on historical instruments, and Ambassadrice for historical guitars at the monumental Vleeshuis Museum, Wills is known as an extraordinary and versatile guitarist, equally at home on the classical guitar, Renaissance lute, Romantic guitar next to other period instruments. Distinguishing herself with well-thought-out programs and projects,

No instrument, but the guitar, comes physically that close to its performer. Be it on or off stage, when carried on the artist's back, travelling from challenge to challenge. They make a good pair. Inextricably intertwined. The young Emma Wills illustrates perfectly this "being one". The way she embraces her instrument, rolls up and down her guitar’s neck and strums its strings. In no time she made herself a name and apppeared in iconic venues across Europe and the USA including AMUZ, Ullapool Guitarfestival, MIM Brussels, Ghent Festival Flanders, KMSKA, Klub Katarakt, Artfestival Watou, CC Gravenhof, CC De Kern, De Appelvink, De Notenlaer, Museum Vleeshuis, Hageland Klassiek, Transit-festival Leuven, Muziektheater Transparant, deSingel, deBijloke, deHandelsbeurs etc.

In addition to being a soloist, Emma can also be heard in various ensembles such as Duo Como since 2018 (guitar-accordion with Sebastian Enriques), Duo Marotel (pianoforte ca. 1846, Lacôte guitar ca. 1820 with Thomas Boodts), and the Delta Baroque ensemble (with Adriaan Lauwers and Anne-Sophie Eiselé). Wills also creates her own original music theatre, the successful 'Witte vlinders' featuring the Belgian actor Lukas De Wolf and she has already worked closely with An Pierlé and Brice Soniano for Muziektheater Transparant.

Born in Brasschaat (BE) in 1998, Emma Wills started playing the guitar at the age of eight. She obtained multiple Masters' in Music Performance Guitar degrees from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow. Wills studied under the guidance of Professors Allan Neave, Matthew McAllister, Sasha Savaloni, Nico Couck, Jan Sanen, and Roland Broux. She also obtained a Master in Music Education degree in 2023 and has taught guitar at the Academy of Borgerhout and Antwerp since 2020. In 2023, Wills started taking private guitar lessons with Prof. Allan Neave under the Continuing Education course, generously sponsored by SWUK vzw and VOCATIO. In addition, she takes private vihuela lessons with Oman Kaminsky. Wills has taken part in masterclasses with Sean Shibe, Marco Ramelli, Alberto Mesirca, Michel Gillain, Laura Young, Paul Galbraith, Meng Su, Göran Söllscher, Rafael Aguirre, Johan Fostier, Stephanie Jones, Matthew Cochran, and Katrine Klingeberge.

CV-update : season 2023-2024. November 2023. Please contact the agency to get the most recent version of the artist's biography.