Joost Flach

Joost graduated in 1983 from the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. His teachers were Carlo Ravelli and Han De Vries, who trained him in the Dutch style of oboe playing. During his studies, he was an oboe / cor anglais player in the Dutch National Youth Orchestra, and he freelanced occasionally in the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Pepijn Wind Ensemble.

Having lived and worked in South East Asia since 1984, Joost has been an oboist in the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra before he took on the Sub-Principal Oboe position in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Over the years, he has made himself known to the music circle regionally, and numerous contemporary Asian composers have composed music especially for him. In addition, he has also given recitals and workshops together with an accompanying pianist in Singapore and Shanghai.

Joost is also an enthusiast in music education. He has lectured at the Institut Seni Indonesia in Jogjakarta as part of a Dutch governmental education programme and was also a music inspector and educational project officer with the Ministry of Education in Singapore.

He has conducted several community and school bands, and many of his students are now professional players or conductors. He practically founded a wind ensemble everywhere he worked - Ansamble Tiup Jogjakarta and Singapore Sling Ensemble. He has been an artistic leader of the High Winds Wind Ensemble in Kuala Lumpur for the past 9 years and during these years, he has collected an impressive and tasteful library of music for wind instruments. Experience has convinced him that performing chamber music contributes the most to the development and growth in the quality of wind players.