Wim Bronnenberg graduated cum laude in Dutch language and literature before switching entirely to music. He studied jazz guitar with Peter Nieuwerf and Eef Albers at the Royal Conservatoire and had lessons with Pat Metheny, Ben Monder and Mick Goodrick amongst others. While still a student he started composing and had the great honor to perform his own composition “Time of the Gypsies” together with Pat Metheny (1991).
Wim gained his first international experience with the Dick de Graaf Septet during a coast-to-coast tour in Canada (1993). Some years later the collaboration with Dick led to a remarkable challenge: a project concentrating on the music of rock legend Jimi Hendrix – “The burning of the midnight lamp” (1998). Extensive touring took place after the album came out, including performances at North Sea Jazz, the Bimhuis and concerts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Along with vocalist Anne Chris, Wim was offered a series of double bill concerts organized by the Jazz Impulse foundation, playing the Concertgebouw amongst other venues.
Wim recorded two cd’s under his own name. “Stream” (2000) resulted from the collaboration with Italian pianist Alessandro di Liberto along with bassist Anton Drukker and drummer Joost Lijbaert. After Alessandro returned to his home country Italy, the great Kris Goessens became the band’s new piano player. Kris helped to further develop the group’s sound resulting in a tour and an appearance at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2006 Wim released “Connected”. It featured a new band with John Ruocco, Harmen Fraanje, Uli Glaszmann and Hans van Oosterhout and fresh original repertoire. Highlights included performances at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Bimhuis.
In 2011 Wim toured with Mike Boddé in a production called “Pil”, a mix of theater, literature and live jazz performance. In the same period Wim played one of Mike’s original compositions for guitar and strings together with the Strings of the Concertgebouw. And more recently Wim was involved in “The Art of Traveling Light” (2020) with Angelo Verploegen and Jasper van Hulten, a trio project featuring trumpet, guitar and drums in an intimate yet challenging setting without bass instrument.
As an educator Wim has worked for 25 years now at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. One of the highlights was the performance of the composition “Electric Counterpoint” with 14 guitars during the Steve Reich festival (2003). Wim worked at the Utrecht Conservatory (2008-2013), was a clinician at Dworp, Belgium where he also performed with Billy Hart and Ricardo del Fra, and gave workshops while on tour with Dick de Graaf in Dresden, Syria and Burkina Faso. In 2009 he took part in the IASJ Jazz Meeting in Luzern. In the past years Wim’s focus has been on the development of technique and improvisation on the guitar.
Wim had the good fortune to perform with jazz greats from The Netherlands and abroad including Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Michiel Borstlap, Jasper Blom, Mike leDonne, Ben van den Dungen, Ricardo del Fra, Juraj Stanik, Hein van de Geyn, Kris Goessens, Dick de Graaf, Billy Hart, Eric Vloeimans, Rob van Bavel, Jacques Lafitte, Jim McNeely, Pat Metheny, Hod O’Brien, Eric Reevis, Martijn Vink, Jack McDuff, Dave Weckl and John Engels.