A native of Belgium, Ronald van Spaendonck has been praised as an outstanding clarinet player worldwide; “Skills alone made him soar as he raced up and down or idled dreamily, with awesome control and subtle shading…Van Spaendonck is an artist we should rush to hear.” The Times, 2 August 2002. A former BBC New Generation Artist, Ronald has appeared with the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and performed recitals and chamber music programmes at the Wigmore Hall, Djanogly Hall, the South Bank, St George’s in Bristol, and at both the BBC PROMS and the Edinburgh International Music Festivals.

His international career took him to Japan at the invitation of the JAL Classic Special New Artists, Canada (Domaine Forget and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festivals), Finland, Ireland (Sligo Festival and a Music Network tour) and France where he gave a series of chamber music concerts at the Théâtre du Châtelet. His chamber music partners include the Szymanowski Quartet and the Skampa Quartet with whom he has regularly performed for ten years mostly in England, Netherlands and Belgium. He also formed a trio with viola player Lawrence Power and pianist Alexandre Tharaud.

Ronald has performed in the most prestigious European venues including both the Brussels and Cologne Philharmonies, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna and has also appeared with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Orquestra Clássica de Porto, Oulu City Orchestra, Zürich Symphonic Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Het Brabants Orkest, Orchestre de la Radio Belge and Orchestre National de Belgique.

He studied the clarinet under the guidance of Léon Jacot and Walter Boeykens, and furthered his education with Anthony Pay in London and Karl Leister in Berlin. Ronald’s international competition credits include first prize at the European Youth Competition in Zurich; first prize at the International TROMP Clarinet Competition, Eindhoven; first prize at the International Clarinet Competition, Seville and first prize at the International Wind Instruments A.Gi. Mus, Roma in 1995 and was also made Lauréat Juventus in 1991 and a Rising Star in 1998/99.