Especially for her recording of Tchaikovsky’s Romances Christianne Stotijn acquired the Russian language, with the commitment and sense of perfectionism that are so typical of her. A trajectory that turned out to be productive: Stotijn unveils the Russian symphonic titan and opera moghul as a genius of the small gesture who deserves to be revered next to past master Mussorgsky and patriarch Glinka.
In her selection from more than a hundred songs Stotijn traverses the whole career of Tchaikovsky. Thus a lyricist reveals himself, who has the courage to sound the depths of the soul with a view to using the passions, desires, tenderness and vulnerability slumbering there as point of departure for his creations. Mussorgsky, too, does not shy away from emotional portraits, although his oeuvre catalogue also includes comic, realistic and folkish songs. Before him Russian folk music had already inspired Michael Glinka to an impressive body of songs. We can rely on the performers to express this ultraromantic repertoire with conviction and courage!

Performers
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo soprano | Joseph Breinl, piano

Programme
Songs from P.I. Tsjaikovski, M. Glinka, M. Moesorgski

14 March, 2014 20:00 -- AMUZ

Unfortunately this concert is cancelled because Julian Prégardien is ill. The performance is rescheduled to a later date next season: Thursday 26 February 2015, 9.00 p.m. Your concert ticket is remains valid. If you cannot attend on 26 February 2015, your ticket will be reimbursed. In that case please contact the AMUZ ticket desk: tickets@amuz.be | +32 (0)3 292 36 80. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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The deepest suffering often results in the most beautiful works of art … A theory that is certainly applicable to the repertoire for Holy Week. From polyphonic lamentations to baroque tenebrae: countless grippingly beautiful compositions break the darkness with musical splendour. Thus also Joseph Haydn’s Musica instrumentale sopra le sette ultime parole and the seven special songs that Frank Agsteribbe allowed to be breathed upon by this work.

Haydn composed his Sieben Letzte Worte initially for orchestra. Soon versions for smaller instrumental strengths originated, but also as an oratorio the composition was widely acclaimed. The religious underpinning and the special performance context of Haydn’s setting inspired Frank Agsteribbe to a creation of his own. Julian Prégardien will officiate in this highly individual meditation, with seven songs that reflect on, comment on and interpret
Haydn’s original.

In cooperation with Klara Festival

Performers
Julian Prégardien, tenor | Frank Agsteribbe, fortepiano

Programme
J. Haydn: Die Sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze (version for fortepiano) | F. Agsteribbe: seven songs

 

20 March, 2014 20:00 -- AMUZ

The Belgian Goeyvaerts String Trio found the Dutch vocal collective Cappella Pratensis willing to work in tandem for a daring musical adventure: the combination of Johannes Ockeghem’s 15th-century polyphonic Requiem with In Memoriam Alfred Schnittke – a contemporary musical farewell by the Russian-Canadian Nikolay Korndorf.
Voices and strings took risks with this challenge: both works are very exacting for the performers! But the audience, too, is challenged: they have to prick their ears in this strange universe, in which two sound worlds that are far apart meet each other. However, the reward is double: after the refinement of the polyphonic Requiem the contrapuntal texture of Korndorf’s masterwork becomes more transparent, while the extreme concentration of the contemporary composition underlines the rich texture of Ockeghem’s requiem mass.

Performers
Kristien Roels, violin | Kris Matthynssens, viola | Pieter Stas, cello | Stratton Bull, artistic direction

Programme
J. Ockeghem: Requiem | N. Korndorf: In Memoriam Alfred Schnittke

22 March, 2014 20:00 -- AMUZ

Making music is communicating – across languages and cultures. How does that sound? Like the delicious mix of Omar Bashir, for example. The Iraqi-Hungarian virtuoso follows in his father’s footsteps in a search for connections between music from his homeland and that of other continents.
Omar Bashir is a thoroughbred artist who enjoys world fame, was acclaimed on the greatest stages from Egypt to Canada, often earning awards for his recordings to boot. Guardian angel for Omar: his father, the legendary ‘King of the Oud’ Munir Bashir. For decades the ambassador of the instrument and the oud instructor of his son from five years on! Once they graced the stage between them, today Omar sings the musical praises of the deceased hero with Hungarian musicians Balint Petz and Adam Hosman.

In cooperation with BOZAR & Moussem, Nomadisch Kunstencentrum

Performers
Omar Bashir, oud, lute & artistic direction | Balint Petz, guitar | Adam Hosman, percussion 

23 March, 2014 14:00 -- AMUZ

France and the viola da gamba: a win-win combination! Mr. de Sainte-Colombe and Marin Marais have already emerged from obscurity a long time ago, but the French baroque repertoire counts many more brilliant compositions for the ancestor of the cello. ‘ECHO rising star’ Romina Lischka knocked at the door of Mr. Demachy – contemporary of the Sun King – and saw it swing open to viol suites of the highest calibre.
Of Demachy’s oeuvre only eight works have come down to us: suites for viol, written down in two volumes that appeared in Paris in 1685. They secured a niche in music history as the very first published works for viol solo! The energetic, highly expressive playing of Romina Lischka makes the most of these dances after the French fashion: dynamized by the style brisé and with a rich chordic texture – the musical equivalent of luxurious velvet.

Performer
Romina Lischka, viol

Programme
Mr. Demachy: Suite in D for viol; Suite in g for viol; Suite in G for viol; Suite in d for viol

30 March, 2014 13:00 -- AMUZ

A contrasting background is essential with a view to doing justice to intense colours: that is the premise of B’Rock’s new combo of baroque and contemporary repertoire. Two late works by Karel Goeyvaerts steeped in Christian-mystic symbols share equal billing with two alto cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Goeyvaerts’s De Zang van Aquarius and Seven Seals have been arranged for strings by Frank Agsteribbe. The titles refer to apocalyptic symbols: Aquarius is the astrological variant of the Biblical thousand-year reign from the divine revelation. Its secrets are kept in a book with seven seals that have to be broken one by one. From here the jump to Bach’s spiritual art is less dramatic than assumed: in his cantatas for countertenor the ultimate experience of time bathes in a divine light that makes the heart desire and pacifies the soul.

Performers
Barokorkest B’Rock | Kristina Hammarström mezzo soprano | Frank Agsteribbe, artistic direction 

Programme
J.S. Bach: Ich habe genug, BWV 82; Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 | K. Goeyvaerts/F. Agsteribbe (arr.): The song of Aquarius; Seven seals

04 April, 2014 19:00 -- AMUZ