Isaak Duerinck

Isaak Duerinck (b. 1994) is a pianist, accordionist and musical theatre maker. He studied classical piano under the tutelage of Eliane Rodrigues at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and developed his passion for song accompaniment with Lucienne Van Deyck and Jozef De Beenhouwer.  

In Lisbon he experienced some inspiring musical months in the class of Jorge Moyano at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and in 2018 he travelled every month to the Schola Cantorum in Paris to immerse himself in French piano music with Gabriel Tacchino, the only pupil of the composer Francis Poulenc.  

His graduation project Les Âmes Perdues, a contemporary cabaret performance that he made with director Wouter Van Looy, led to the founding of an eponymous collective and a two-year residence at Muziektheater Transparant. Within this residence, Les Âmes Perdues collaborated on various musical theatre projects including Quartett, Het Bezoek (DeRoovers), BlokBloc (Laika) and Struwwelpeter (Zonzo Compagnie). The collective’s own creations include Eurovisionary and How Do You Sleep at Night. 

In 2022, Isaak was one of the musical coaches in Muziektheater Transparant’s annual youth project. As a freelance musician and performer, Isaak has collaborated with One Trick Pony/Liesa Van der Aa, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Dries Van Noten, among others. Since 2019 he has been linked to the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp as a coach for creative graduation projects and a coordinator of projects with (socio-)artistic partners in and around Antwerp. In 2023 he will also be the artistic curator of the interdisciplinary festival NextDoors.  

In the 2022-2023 season Isaak is appearing in Maison Maeterlinck / Theater Immobiel (NTGent), ENTRECÔTE (Liesa Van der Aa/One Trick Pony) and a radical reworking of Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Les Âmes Perdues & Muziektheater Transparant). 

Photo: Pablo Cepeda