The Belgian saxophonist and composer Fabrizio Cassol (Ougrée, 1964) studied at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège from 1982 until 1985, graduating with a higher diploma in chamber music and winning first prize for saxophone. In 1984, Cassol started touring with his newly formed jazz band Trio Bravo; his fellow band members were tuba and trombone player Michel Massot and percussionist Michel Debrulle. Five years on he became one of the founders of Kaai, now a legendary Brussels jazz club and stage for improvised music. In 1991, Cassol together with drummer Stéphane Galland and bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou, ventured on a memorable trip deep into the rain forests of Central Africa, where they met the Aka pygmy people, inspiring them to name their new trio Aka Moon. In 1992 Cassol composed music for dance theatre for the first time, for a project by Catherine Lazar and Brigitte Kaquet. In 1999 and 2000 he collaborated with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her dance company Rosas, composing music for I Said I (1999) and In real time (2000). In 1998, Cassol won the Belgian Django Award for best French language artist. From 2000 until 2007 he was artist in residence at the Brussels opera La Monnaie. His partnership with Alain Platel started in 2005, when he was handed the musical direction of the choir project Uit de Bol/Coup de Choeurs, the official opening performance for the inauguration of the new building of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (Royal Theatre of Flanders) in Brussels. Cassol's work was first experienced at the Holland Festival in the ballets C de la B's performance vsprs (2006), which was inspired by Vespro della Beata Vergine by Claudio Monteverdi.