Since 2015 Hans Roels (°1971) is fascinated by music performances at locations outside the usual concert hall or art space. In his works he searches for interaction forms to integrate the concert environment (nature, inhabitants, passers-by, etc.) in a social, ecological (sound) performance. Before and after 2015 he has also been exploring radical forms of simultaneity and polyphony in his compositions. Parts with a distinct tempo, timbre and pitch system are combined with each other. The fast alternation of styles and the search for open notation forms (with freedom for the performer) also play an important role in his work. In older works he was interested in creating an 'unstable border zone' between music and noise, the fragile music seemed to fall apart. There is a political undertone in several of his works.
His compositions are written for a variety of instruments and media, among others acoustic ensembles, instruments with live electronics, live algorithmic pieces for computer controlled music robots and acoustic works for multimedia installations or self-designed sound objects.
From 1989 on Hans Roels studied piano with the contemporary music specialist Claude Coppens at the Royal Conservatory for Music in Ghent (B). Consequently he followed courses in composition with Jan Rispens (NL), Godfried-Willem Raes (B) and Roland Corijn (B) at the same conservatory. After his studies he received various commissions from the Logos Foundation, the Spectra Ensemble, Champ d'Action, Zwerm, Spiegel Quartet, November Music and others. His works were played in spaces such as the Issue Room Project (New York), Cafe Oto (London), Musikhochschule (Cologne), Felix Meritis (Amsterdam), Pierement Museum (Utrecht), Muziekcentrum (Den Bosch), Circolo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), Muhka (Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp), de Singel (Antwerp), NONA theater (Mechelen), de Vooruit (Ghent) and SMAK (Ghent). Performances were made by ensembles such as Collectief Publiek Geluid, Trio Scordatura, Black Jackets Company, Champ d'Action, M&M Ensemble, Prima La Musica and Q-O2 in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, the UK and the USA. In recent years he has often worked together with percussionist and sound artist Ruben Orio.
Between 2001 and 2008 he organised the concerts in the Logos Foundation, a centre for experimental audio arts in Ghent (B). During these years artists and ensembles like Jaap Blonk, Reinier Van Houdt, the Barton Workshop, Harry Sparnaay, Carl Stone, Yannis Kyriakides, Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Agostino Di Scipio, Ralph Van Raat, Wu Wei, Marc Behrens, Teodoro Anzellotti and many others have played here.
Between 2007 and 2010 Hans Roels started and conducted an educational project about live electronic music at the music academy of Deinze (B). Every week teenagers and amateur musicians could perform music on computers, synthesizers and acoustic instruments and learn more about the foundations and history of electronic music. Between 2008 and 2018 he also taught live electronics at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (School of Arts).
From 2008 until 2014 he performed research at the same School of Arts on the creative process in music composition. A group of composers was examined while working on a new composition. In october 2014 he received a doctorate in the arts. From 2010 to 2014 he also worked as a researcher in the Orpheus Institute (in the research group ORCiM). From 2016 Hans Roels performed artistic research on site-specific composition and in-situ music performances at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (Artesis Plantijn University College) for four years.
Since 2021 Hans uses his expertise in sound art and experimental music in a new company Woeha, designing (interactive) audio and soundscapes for installations and podcasts. Since 2023 he combines this with directing the Logos Foundation, a centre for experimental music in Ghent (B) with an orchestra of more than 80 music robots.
Roels has published articles in international research journals (such as Musicae Scientiae, Journal of Music, Technology and Education, Liminalities, etc.), books (The Exposition of Artistic Research, ed. M. Schwab and H. Borgdorff; Artistic Experimentation in Music, ed. D. Crispin and B. Gilmore; etc.) and given presentations at international conferences such as The Global Composition, 2018; The European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM) Conference, 2017; Tracking the creative process in music conference, 2013; Linux audio conference 2010.