Concerts & portfolio
Childwood
Childwood is an international band created in Rotterdam (Netherlands) by composer, arranger and guitarist Alex Vansalen (Belgium). The band's current line-up consists of singer Isabel Bermejo (Spain), violin player Burcu Ramazanoglu (Turkey), saxophonist Wietse Voermans (Netherlands), double bass player Alessio Bruno (Italy) and drummer Ruud Voesten (Netherlands).
They all met at Codarts, Rotterdam Conservatory and have different backgrounds (pop, metal, jazz, latin, classical, contemporary, world, rock and fusion music). Being a university of the arts bringing together many styles and disciplines in one place (music, dance, acting, circus and composing), Codarts school is a crossroads for curiosity and interest in exploration, crossover and interaction. Childwood band was created in this environment, as Alex Vansalen was studying for his master's degree in Jazz Composition, working more specifically on how to combine acoustic and electronic music through a mix of narrative jazz, progressive rock and alternative pop.
Their first album, Opalessence, to be released in 2020, illustrates a psychic journey through the six psychological stages cyclically experienced during a lifetime. From birth to death, literally or symbolically, human beings indeed consciously or unconsciously go through several psychological steps that cause them to make certain decisions and choices, and so contribute to their self-development. Each composition represents such chapters in a cycle, the musical features focusing on the unstable and constantly changing nature of this process.
Album available here : https://childwood.bandcamp.com/releases
Mandy Chan
Mandy Chan is a vocalist, composer, and arranger born in Guangdong, China. She sings jazz, soul, R&B, pop music, folk music, and more, including English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, French, Teochew dialect and Hokkien songs. From traditional to modern, from popular to avant-garde, from China to international world music, she embraces all styles and genres of beautiful music.
Mandy attended Xinghai Conservatory of Music, one of the top musical schools in China, where she studied vocal and performance for 4 years and graduated in 2011. She recently completed studying for a Master's degree in jazz vocals at Codarts Rotterdam University of the Arts in The Netherlands.
Moonlight group
Moonlight was created by the singer Mandy Chan (China) around the flute player Carlos Dadin (Spain) and the guitar player, composer and arranger Alex Vansalen (Belgium). All three met at Codarts, Rotterdam Conservatory and share a strong interest for crossover music.
Influenced by the styles of jazz, latin, Brazilian, pop and funk, the trio proposes its own interpretation of a repertoire mixing jazz standards with famous Brazilian and pop covers, combining groove with interaction and improvisation.
Sunolia trio
Sunolia is an international trio formed by guitarist Alex Vansalen, singer Isabel Bermejo and bassist Johannes Fend. The listener can appreciate the different influences in their music since each member comes from a different musical background. Together they mix, in a very organic way, Brazilian music, jazz and contemporary music creating an intimate and personal language.
Their repertoire consists of their own arrangements of music by artists like Egberto Gismonti, Djavan, Vinícius de Moraes or Carlos Lyra making a mix between traditional music with a contemporary approach.
Line-up: Alex Vansalen on guitar, Isabel Bermejo on vocals and Johannes Fend on double bass.
Coaster duet
Coaster Duet is formed by the singer Alkistis Labropoulou (Athens, Greece) and the guitarist Alex Vansalen (Brussels, Belgium). They both met at Codarts, Rotterdam Conservatory and share a strong interest for jazz music. Together they mix the styles of swing, pop, latin and gypsy music, combining a retro approach with their personal way of playing it.
Their repertoire consists of their own arrangements of covers of artists like Michael Jackson, Sting, Bill Withers, Cole Porter, Bill Evans, Felix Luna, Edith Piaf and many more, all strongly influenced by jazz roots.
Reina duo
Reina revisits jazz tunes into modern arrangements. Alex and Leah also offer you your typical Christmas songs, romantic valentine setting, famous pop tunes, sunny Bossa Novas, French chansons, and so on!
We are looking forward to hearing from you, so you can hear from us!