Belgian vibraphonist and percussionist Els Vandeweyer was born in 1982. She began playing the vibraphone at age eight and initially studied classical music in Antwerp before turning to jazz and improvised music. In 2006, she co-founded the quintet IMI Kollektief in Portugal, releasing their debut album Snug as a Gun. Vandeweyer continued her studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, graduating in 2008, and spent time in Oslo performing with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love, as well as in Chicago with Ken Vandermark, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Tim Daisy, and Jeff Parker. After moving to Berlin, she became active in the local improvisation scene and joined the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra. In 2013, she released Quat Live at Hasselt with Fred Van Hove, Paul Lovens, and Martin Blume. Vandeweyer has also collaborated with ensembles including The Somnambulist, Mimosa, Spin Track, Vision 7, and the Serenus Zeitblom Octet. In 2019, she released her debut solo album Debut.
