Frank Vantroyen (Hasselt, 1967) started, like most brass players, with a local brass band; in his case with the “St. Huibrecht” Royal Brass Band of Ramsel.
He was bitten by the musical bug at a very young age. He first started learning how to read music at the age of 9. He very quickly discovered his love of brass instruments and, like so many before him, took up trumpet with great enthusiasm.
Attending a concert with a tuba sextet awoke his fascination with these imposing instruments with their warm, penetrating, majestic sound.
This marked the start of a permanent relationship: Frank and his tuba!
At the age of 12, he became the youngest tuba player in Belgium. He took regular tuba lessons with Argo Penné before going to the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp. There, he won first prizes for music reading, tuba and chamber music. He also obtained his degree for tuba. In the years following his studies, he mainly taught in a variety of music academies.
He has played as a freelance musician with almost all Belgian orchestras. He was an e-flat tuba player for the Midden Brabant Brass Band for 20 years. He has taken private lessons from Heiko Triebener (Bamberger Symfoniker - Germany), Ulrich Haas (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Hendrik-Jan Renes (Rotterdams Filharmonisch Orkest) and Hans Nikkel (WDR - Cologne).
He has been a tuba - cimbasso soloist for the orchestra of the Flemish Opera since 2003.