Hugues Navez

Born in Brussels, he starts studying the guitar at the age of nine with Hélène LOUVRIER at the Music Academy in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels), then with Jean-Philippe GRUNEISSEN at the Music Academy in Mouscron where he is awarded the Prize-Medal of the Belgian Government in 1981.

Trained at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Lille (France) by Jean-Philippe GRUNEISSEN, at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) by Ilse and Nicolas ALFONSO as well as at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris by Alexandre LAGOYA (of whom he is the only Belgian pupil) and Carel HARMS, he was awarded the highest distinctions and holds numerous prizes, diplomas and master’s degrees : guitar, musical theory, chamber music, musical analysis, pedagogy…

He attended the master classes of Carel Harms, Alexandre Lagoya, Ako Ito, Henry Dorigny and Peter McCutcheon at the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice ; those of Leo Brouwer, Sharon Isbin, Costas Cotsiolis, Kai Nieminen and Ichiro Suzuki in Finland ; those of Fritz Buss in Antwerp and of Konrad Junghänel in Paris.

He gives numerous concerts and recitals, and takes part in various radio and television broadcasts in Europe, Switzerland, Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Congo, Senegal, New York, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, Thailand, China…

He is regularly being invited at important festivals including the Brussels Summer Festival, the Festival du Jeune Soliste in Antibes (with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster), the Festival of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the International Dance and Theatre Festival in Caracas, the Festival des Grands Crus de Bourgogne, the Nights of Beloeil, the Flâneries Musicales in Reims (France)…

… as soloist or in company with prestigious partners : the violinist Lola Bobesco ; the flautists Maxence Larrieu, Marc Grauwels and Denis-Pierre Gustin ; the actors Suzanne Philippe, Raoul de Manez and Charles Kleinberg ; the harpist Susanna Mildonian, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestras (RTBF – conducted by André Vandernoot – and BRT), The Belgian National Orchestra (conducted by Dirk Brossé), the String Quartet of the Opera Royal de la Monnaie, the Momentum String Quartet, the Orchestre de Chambre National de Toulouse, the American-Swiss dance company Dance Music Light, the baritone Richard Rittelmann…

Hugues Navez is also a winner of the Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now - Menuhin Foundation.

In 1988, he creates “12 European Guitar Recitals” (12 composers - 12 countries) under the High Patronage of Carlo RIPA di MEANA, the European Commissioner for the Culture. This initiative earns him the same year the European Prize “Émile Noël” from the European Union, awarded for the first and only time to an artist.

On the 21st of July 1991, during the closing concert « Apotheosis » of the Royal Festivities celebrating the 60th birthday of King Baudouin and the 40th-year of his reign, he performs with the Brussels Guitar Quartet and the Belgian Radio Television Symphonic Orchestra (BRT) on the Heysel site, at the foot of the Atomium, in the presence of the royal family and the international press corps.

The European Union invites his duet with harpist Suzanna Mildonian in September 1992 to perform at the Sevilla World EXPO and in December 2001, at the Cinquantenaire, during the festivities organized to celebrate the arrival of the single European currency.

Hugues Navez is frequently requested to be a member of the jury for major competitions : Jeunes Solistes and Jeunes Musiciens competitions (Belgian Television RTBF), Michele Pittaluga Competition (Alessandria, Italy), Concours Révélation Guitare Classique (Paris, France)…

As a highly valued pedagogue, he gives many master classes during his tours and for the European Erasmus Exchange Program : The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Beijing Central Conservatory, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Conservatories of Shanghai, Dakar, Budapest, the École Britten in France...

In 1993 he founds the master classes and the summer festival of the International Summer Academy of Belgium, at the Abbey of Floreffe, being its artistic director and guitar professor until the end of this event in 2001.

Since 1999 Hugues Navez is the full Professor of the classical guitar class at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (Royal Conservatory of Brussels).

He is one of the rare performers playing a ten-string guitar.

He currently has recorded 5 CDs, all of which have been enthusiastically acclaimed by the press.

Every summer and winter he is the Professor at the Brussels Guitar Master Classes.

In 2007, the Heritage Commission of the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) awards him the Frères Darche Prize in recognition of his artistic career and dedication honoring the Conservatory.

Invited by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the European Union, he tours in China in September 2010, performing and giving master classes in Beijing and in Shanghai for the World EXPO.

Hugues Navez is the president of the Classical Guitar Society of Belgium and the Brussels Classical Guitar Society.

In 2012 he founds the « Brussels International Guitar Festival & Competition », the first and unique annual event devoted to the guitar in the capital of Europe, of wich he is the president and the artistic director.