Roeland Celis

Roeland (°1993, Tienen) grew up in a musical family. His parents, both of them classically trained musicians, sent him to the local music school when he was a kid. Here he discovered his passion for the guitar, improvisation and a number of different styles. He continued his education at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven. Here he got taught by a.o. Peter Hertmans, Frank Vaganée, and Jos Machtel. After having studied for a year in Amsterdam, he finished his master’s degree in Antwerp, guided by Frederik Leroux. Through a BAEF- scholarship, Roeland got the opportunity to study for one year in New York at the Aaron Copland School of Music.

During these years Roeland met a lot of musicians, which led to being a part of different projects. Roeland is a sideman in HAST, NABOU, Nicolas Thys’s Broadway Neon, Muriel Urquidi’s ODE, Soet Kempeneer’s Good.Doog and he got the opportunity to work together with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra as a part of their “The future is Now”- programme.

As a leader, Roeland also has a sextet called “Ping o.d.” with John O’ Gallagher (US), Sylvain Debaisieux, Karel Cuelenaere, Gert-Jan Dreessen & Cyrille Obermüller. This band released its first album in September of 2023.