Flamenco guitarist Maurice Leenaars - Spanish evening

During Spanish evening at Athena Ossendrecht, flamenco guitarist Maurice Leenaars performs

Maurice Leenaars - Solo guitar

His fourth album PRELUDIO was released online in 2021, and like EL CALOR, is available to stream via Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and more.

'Neither his appearance nor his manner of playing imply that he comes from that more northern part of Europe, but rather from the gypsy district of Sacromonte in Granada. ' (Juan Estrada, Paco de Lucía's agent, in my 2010 CD 'EL CALOR')

open.spotify.com - Maurice Leenaars

Bio:

Maurice Leenaars - flamenco guitar (Eindhoven, 1966)

As a child of about seven, I wanted to become a professional flamenco guitarist "later. My father, an amateur guitarist, had inspired me with flamenco albums, and he taught me some simple Spanish melodies. Later he sent me on, but that teacher couldn't teach me flamenco. After a year, that one sent me on to music school, but there was no flamenco training there either.

I gave up my goal, and plunged into the classical repertoire. After completing music school, I automatically went to study at the conservatory in Tilburg for five years. After the fourth year (1988) I hitchhiked to Seville during the summer vacations, again triggered by flamenco. My graduation year of 1989 I spent almost entirely on flamenco self-study.

Three weeks after my classical guitar final exams, I took the train to the southern Spanish port of Huelva, eventually ending up back in Seville via Cadiz, and living there for a year. Day and night there I kept myself busy with self-study, mastering almost daily in the bar Taberna El Perejíl accompanying sevillanas, which formed my basis for accompanying flamenco singing in general. Also in Seville, I obtained my first jobs as a flamenco guitarist at a dance school and in a music group (sevillanas and rumbas). The dance school turned out to be my foundation for later high-level dance coaching.

Back in the Netherlands I continued to profile myself to this day with giving concerts (in many variations such as soloistic, with singing and dancing and with a variety of musicians) and with teaching. For 17 years I worked at several flamenco dance schools in Eindhoven, Den Bosch and Tilburg. I now have four CDs of my own work to my name, the last two of which (El Calor and Preludio) can also be heard on platforms such as Spotify. I have collaborated on CDs by various artists. I play my own compositions, and some I have arranged, commissioned or otherwise, for big-band instrumentation. Some ninety (concert) videos of mine can be seen on YouTube.

I played with big names in jazz, such as saxophonist Paul van Kemenade and trumpeter Eric Vloeimans. For them I wrote and/or arranged my own work.

I have done radio and TV appearances both nationally and provincially/regionally.

A major figure in flamenco with whom I was privileged to do a short Dutch tour in 2022 is the flamenco singer Montse Cortés. She has worked intensively with the guitar great Paco de Lucía. A piece from our performance can also be seen on YouTube.

www.mauriceleenaars.com