Emma Wills
Classical guitarist / Period instruments
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 Museum Vleeshuis, Wills is known as an extraordinary and versatile guitarist, not only in her programs and projects, but also in instrumentation as she masters the classical guitar, Renaissance lute, Romantic guitar, and other period instruments. Emma Wills appears in recital at 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 (guitar-accordion w/ Sebastian Enriques), Duo Marotel (pianoforte ca. 1846, Lacôte guitar ca. 1820 w/ Thomas Boodts), and the Delta Baroque ensemble (w/ Adriaan Lauwers and Anne-Sophie Eiselé). Wills also creates her own original music theatre, the successful 'Witte vlinders' featuring 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, Wills started playing the guitar at the age of eight. She obtained multiple Masters' in Music Performance 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 studies the vihuela with renowed guitarist 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
VOCATIO Laureate 2023, photo: Karel Duerinckx
Klara attaches great importance to musical quality and kept that criteria in mind when selecting the young musicians. They are at the start of their career, or have already made themselves known with a few recordings, and are distinguished by their striking personality or maturity. Klara strongly believes in their potential and offers them a stage with De Twintigers to show their talent to the public.
Klara radio
Flemish Television Broadcasting, Brussels
Translated from Dutch
Emma is incredibly talented, passionate, ambitious, and very driven. She is the perfect Ambassador for the guitar in the historical Museum Vleeshuis. We could not wish for a better representative. Keep an eye on her because she's very promising.
Timothy De Paepe
director Museum Vleeshuis, Antwerp Translated from Dutch