Patrick Denecker studied the recorder and early music at the Conservatories of Antwerp, Den Haag, Amsterdam and Madrid. He won international competitions for early and contemporary music.
Patrick Denecker is continuously searching for new interpretations of early music. To this end, he founded the ensemble LA CACCIA - in which he plays the recorder and the instruments of the alta capella - towards the end of the 1990’s: from that point onwards, fellow musicians helped carrying out his experiments with sounds and musical language in a repertoire spanning the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the early Baroque period. The group can always count on the collaboration of other specialists to realize this objective.
LA CACCIA’s programmes are mostly built around well-defined themes as Settimana Santa (15th C. mediterranean passion music), the French Chansons of Benedictus Appenzeller, Vita et Fortuna (biographical music ca. 1500), the private chapel of the Medici-popes (Musici Segreti), early 17th-century music at the court of Brussels (Bellissimo Splendore), songs and consort music from England (The Dark is my Delight), the songbook of the duchess of Königsberg (The partbooks of Dorothea), and many more.
The recorder is often a protagonist in LA CACCIA’s programmes and Patrick Denecker is always in search of unknown repertoire for this instrument. As a recorder player, Patrick Denecker has also taken part in recordings and concerts of other specialized ensembles as Capilla Flamenca, Mezzaluna, Dunedin Consort, Musica Temprana, Camerata Trajectina and graindelavoix.
In 2009, LA CACCIA has performed at several venues in Belgium (amongst which AMUZ – Antwerp and St.-Peters church – Ghent), but was also a guest at international festivals and concert halls (Prague, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Apeldoorn, Pas-de-Calais a.o.). 2010 has seen performances in Antwerp, Zürich, Calais a.o.