Wim Henderickx – 17 March 1962-18 December 2022
Disbelief. You don't want to believe it and yet you must. Am I hearing correctly what they're telling me on the phone? Unfortunately, it's true. I immediately open the Klara app. So it's true? Quickly I surf the web for Wim Henderickx. Wikipedia has already been updated… It can't be, it shouldn't be, it's 40 years too soon. Wim Henderickx, yesterday full of life, still so promising, a packed agenda.
That agenda will no longer be able to be carried out. I quickly search for the score. Because yes, I have a unique score in my possession. I immediately realize that it belongs somewhere else, but where? Wim though… And your soulmate, your Bea… Your three sons, yes grown men by now, pretty much your best friends. All those students, your friends, comrades they were. Everyone in fact that you came into contact with, whether it was professional or just at a café.
'De Wim', everyone liked him. It couldn't be otherwise. Such a warm-hearted, jovial, open, hospitable, cool, friendly, calm, lively, artistic, admirable fellow. A wealth of knowledge, skill, inexhaustibly artistic creating and above all: a treasure of a human being. It's impossible to list everything he stood for and what he realized. That would be a very thick book. We'd like to refer you for this to his own website, to several articles that appeared in our web magazine, to Wikipedia and so much more.
It's difficult to put into words what's going on inside me. Gone so suddenly, too quickly. The void that is struck on so many fronts. Not only Flanders mourns, the entire world of classical music that you were fortunate enough to get to know in some way receives difficult news to process.
© Alain Honorez
© Georges Peeters
To you, dear Wim, very many keep only the best memories. One among those many is me. Not only because of those shoulder pats and the warm big kiss I once received, but for your willingness to listen, your praise, your advice and then that score…
When Klassiek Centraal awarded you the Golden Label Career at the 10 Years Klassiek Centraal celebration (June 2016, Arenbergschouwburg, Antwerp), you gave our web magazine an unforgettable world premiere of a work performed only once. I received the score as a gift. You had said earlier that you would never compose another Adana. That chapter was closed until that tribute came. "I have fantastic ideas for a work, it's already in my head, really." … Of course I was curious, but you didn't reveal anything. Until a week before the celebration: "It turned out to be something else. It's another Adana again, I said I'd never do that again, but for Klassiek Centraal and that prize, that's quite unusual isn't it, so yes, I did write one again, but don't tell anyone". The audience would hear it, experience it.
And yes, I have the score and we print the first page here. The work isn't even on your list of compositions because it was only intended for that one festive event. And now it's suddenly a memory that has gained even more value. Wim though. If only I could tell you.
One thing I know for sure: Wim is missed and that will last long, too long. What I also know for sure: Wim remains. He remains a living memory of only goodness. If I ever come to that place where you are now, dear Wim, we'll have a chat. In the meantime I'll still hear you on our globe and whenever I read, see, hear something about the Himalayan mountains, I'll always think of you, certainly now. The atmosphere up there in those thin mountains, you'll probably be staying there now. May it go well with you there. Goodbye Wim!
Ludwig van Mechelen
PHOTOS: Alain Honorez, Klassiek Centraal, Georges Peeters, Wim Henderickx