Patrick Denecker is a Belgian recorder player with a keen curiosity about music that transcends the boundaries of time. His passion lies in both performing and researching early music scores, yet he refuses to be confined within the traditional frameworks of the Renaissance, Baroque or Classical periods. For him, every musical style, however recent, is a mirror of its time, shaped by customs, ideas and sonic ideals that deserve to be re-examined and brought to life.

For each project, he consciously chooses the instruments that most closely reflect the world in which the music originated. In this way, they contribute not only to a historically informed performance, but also to an intense evocation of the soundscape of that era. Every concert is a musical quest to uncover the composer’s intentions: carefully grounded, yet never rigid. For music must, above all, be alive, driven by imagination, freedom and fantasy.

That is why concepts such as ‘old’ and ‘historical’ are relative to him. Music is ephemeral: it exists only in the moment it is heard. A centuries-old score does not become a museum piece, but contemporary art the moment it is performed. It is precisely this approach that makes it interesting to explore how a composition once sounded, and how it can take on new meaning today. Personal freedom is central to this quest, resulting in surprising, often unique interpretations, always different, depending on the performer and the moment.

Patrick Denecker is the founder of the ensembles LA CACCIA and REDHERRING. In these flexibly composed formations, he plays a wide range of recorders and period reed instruments. In addition, he regularly plays with renowned ensembles. His musical journey has taken him to virtually all European countries, North and South America, and Japan several times.