I SOLISTI’s 2024-2025 concert season puts young talent centre stage, opening with a brand-new I SOLISTI Summer School at Muziekcentrum de Bijloke in Ghent for young people aged between 10 and 20.
We’re set for an intense start to the new season, which will also involve the current batch of YoungStars. You can see them at work at Bijloke Wonderland during a chamber music concert and a music theatre performance, both times in collaboration with I SOLISTI core members and mentors. Working together across generations and learning from each other: that is the core idea of the I SOLISTI ACADEMY.
From September onwards, we are going full steam ahead with a number of new productions and several reprises of successful projects such as Metamorphoses and Landru. You can read all about it in this overview.
We would like to highlight the remarkable project In What We Trust, which kicks off the new season with a collaboration between three makers: artist in residence Frederik Neyrinck, writer Maud Vanhauwaert and video maker Bas Van Hoeck and six young people, selected by LARF! from Ghent. The production and performance are in the hands of I SOLISTI and Vlaams Radio Koor. In this production, which will premiere on 21 September in Concertgebouw Bruges, it is Gen Z’s time to shine!
In total, we showcase 17 diverse projects in this brochure. We invite you to make your choices and hope to see you regularly at one of our many concerts, performances and activities.
We are grateful to our many partners, be they concert halls, festivals or other ensembles, arts organisations and artists, for particularly enriching collaborations. Cooperation, giving opportunities to young talent, commitment to sustainability, inclusion, diversity, tapping into new repertoire, these are self-evident for I SOLISTI. We resolutely opt for a combination of quality and innovation and do not shy away from experimentation.
Be sure to keep an eye on our website and social media for more background information and news hot off the press.
We hope to see you soon!
The I SOLISTI team
I SOLISTI Summer School
Together with co-producer Muziekcentrum De Bijloke in Ghent, I SOLISTI is starting a brand-new Summer School for young talent (10 to 20 years old) on wind instruments and percussion from all over Flanders. We are particularly delighted with the great interest in this first edition of the I SOLISTI Summer School. We have the pleasure of welcoming 41 participants during 2 days (28 and 29 August 2024) on the site of Muziekcentrum De Bijloke.
The youngsters will take instrument lessons with top Belgian soloists. They will delve deeper into the aspects of being a musician, as well as receiving an introduction to sound painting, breathing exercises and tai chi. They will also be attending the rehearsals of our current I SOLISTI YoungStars (p. 4-5).
Those who receive a positive evaluation after the two-day programme, the showcase and a short intake interview together with their parents can join the I SOLISTI YoungStar programme for 2024-2025.
Wednesday 28 August 2024 Thursday 29 August 2024
Sunday 1 September 2024 14.00 PM Bijloke Wonderland
Since early times, the master-apprentice principle has been a common practice in music. Even today, I SOLISTI still follows this fine principle.
I SOLISTI encourages its YoungStars (young musicians between 10 and 20 years of age) to take to the stage for a chamber music concert, alongside their mentors who guide them throughout the year in the YoungStars programme. Established names and young up-and-coming talent stand side by side, each of them with an abundance of skill, personal ambitions and dreams.
With works by Haydn and Mozart, among others, and the audience as witnesses, a wonderful symbiosis between young and old is created, with ‘learning from each other’ as the guiding principle. The enthusiasm of the YoungStars and their mentors will not leave you unfazed.
Dragon Driess has many wishes he wants to fulfil. To do so, he must first be able to blow out the candles on his birthday cake. However, as a fire-breathing dragon that is quite difficult! He consults everyone but it is his friend Bertha the beaver who finally helps him with his important mission. A tale of hope, love and the healing power of music.
With this wonderful performance, the I SOLISTI YoungStars enthusiastically show what they have been working on for the past few months and will now perform this musical tale about selfconfidence and a close friendship for you.
COMPOSITION
Simon Van Hoecke
ENSEMBLE
I SOLISTI YoungStars
ACTRESS
Mieke Laureys
TEXT
Ann Van Dessel
ILLUSTRATIONS
Gonda Cleynhens
CO-PRODUCTION
I SOLISTI
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Sunday 1 September 2024
16.00 PM
Bijloke Wonderland
In What We Trust
I SOLISTI joins forces with Vlaams Radio Koor, writer Maud Vanhauwaert, composer Frederik Neyrinck, videographer Bas Van Hoeck and LARF! for a brand-new production focusing on religion and meaning and what these themes mean for the younger generations in today’s diverse society.
A group of youths hit the road. With a head full of questions and a heart full of desires. ‘You are the future!’ they say. ‘Make something of it!’, they say. In the time of Anton Bruckner, God gave direction to existence.
But what is there for young people to believe in now?
In What We Trust is a musical-poetic score. You will hear Bruckner’s Mass in e minor in dialogue with words from young people in a script by Maud Vanhauwaert and set to new music by Frederik Neyrinck and with images by Bas Van Hoeck.
MUSIC
Anton Bruckner
Mass in e minor
Frederik Neyrinck
Creation
SCRIPT
Maud Vanhauwaert
VIDEO
Bas Van Hoeck
ENSEMBLE I SOLISTI & Vlaams Radio Koor
Conducted by Bart Van Reyn
YOUTHS
Fran De Roo
Maya Mayanga
César De Knijf
Damiaan Foncke
Renée Van den Brande
Joste Dewaele
COACHING YOUTHS
LARF! - Inge Goddijn
THANKS TO Ruth Christiaens Logistics during film recordings
PRODUCTION
Vlaams Radio Koor I SOLISTI Concertgebouw Bruges in collaboration with LARF!
Gerealiseerd met de steun van de Tax Shelter maatregel van de Belgische Federale Overheid via Flanders Tax Shelter
LIVE PERFORMANCES
21 September 2024 - 20.00 PM Concertgebouw Bruges
23 September 2024 - 14.00 PM Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen
24 September 2024 - 20.30 PM Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen
29 September 2024 - 17.00 PM Flagey Elsene
2 October 2024 - 20.00 PM Musis Stadstheater Arnhem
3 October 2024 - 20.00 PM Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam
6 October 2024 - 20.00 PM Festival van Vlaanderen Kempen Herentals
One could describe Leoš Janáček as classical music’s Benjamin Button: the older he got, the more vibrant and creative he and his music became. Indeed, the bulk of his grand oeuvres date from after World War I, when the composer was nearing the ripe age of sixty.
Around that time, two other Czech composers burst into the scene: Bohuslav Martinů and Erwin Schulhoff. Although these two youngsters never shied away from their roots, they spent most of their careers outside their homeland. Martinů flourished in Paris, Schulhoff advanced his career in Germany. No wonder, then, that the three Czechs developed separate styles.
Czech that! presents three portraits of these grandmasters. First, the Pavel Haas Quartet introduces you to their intense and compelling chamber music for strings. Then, I SOLISTI gives you a guided tour through the colourful, frivolous and often humorous world of their wind music.
An introduction to the overarching theme and both programmes is provided by musicologist Pieter Bergé.
MUSIC
Leoš Janáček
Concertino
Bohuslav Martinů
Revue de cuisine
Leoš Janáček
Mladi
Erwin Schulhoff
Le Bourgeois Ghentilhomme
ENSEMBLE I SOLISTI
LIVE DRAWINGS
Gerda Dendooven
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Sunday 13 October 2024
18.00 PM
Festival 20/21 - Leuven
Metamorfosen
In these Metamorphoses, performance, music, images from sand and a narrative voice alchemise themselves in equal measure into a new and unique whole. For a short while, you are carried off into a mythical world.
I SOLISTI NextGeneration Artist Balder Dendievel explores the core philosophical idea of Ovid’s Metamorphoses together with writer Michèle Delagrange. Ovid wrote texts full of humour, ambiguity and musicality that have inspired many artists, including composer Benjamin Britten. With masterful character sketches in his Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe, Britten created his own musical story of change.
These solos are interspersed with short text fragments from Ovid, rewritten by Michèle Delagrange and brought to life by Simone Milsdochter, as well as new creations by five young composers for I SOLISTI. Music and text are supported by live sand drawings by Immanuel Boie, lifting the theme of change - and the futility of resisting it - into a new dimension. Together, they create a musical-literary whole around a theme that transcends many centuries.
‘Like a sunny harmony that spreads its rays everywhere after which they return again and again to the core.’ This is how Finnish composer Kaija Saarahio (1952-2023) described her work Solar. Around this shining work, three female creators, from as many different generations, create resounding reflections as reverence.
Threnody is a lament for which Annelies Van Parys drew inspiration from the chanson Nymphes des Bois, Josquin Desprez’s famous Déploration sur la mort d’Ockeghem.
The lamento and homage to the master also play a crucial role in Saskia Venegas’s The White Lotus. A sonic path that ends in a peaceful meditative state, as an enchanting eulogy to her guide Wim Henderickx.
In Ellen Jacobs’ tribute, references to the spatial thinking of Kaija Saarahio form the premise.
TEXT: FILIP RATHÉ
PROGRAMME
Annelies Van Parys Threnody (2024) (commissioned by I SOLISTI, SPECTRA & Muziekcentrum De Bijloke)
Ellen Jacobs world creation (commissioned by Transit)
Saskia Venegas world creation White Lotus (commissioned by November Music)
Kaija Saariaho Solar (1993)
PRODUCTION
I SOLISTI SPECTRA
Conducted by Filip Rathé
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Sunday 20 October 2024
20.30 PM
TRANSIT - Leuven
Tuesday 12 November 2024
20.45 PM
Theater aan de Parade ‘s HertogenboschNovember Music
Young, up-and-coming talent under the wings of an experienced master: the success recipe of the I SOLISTI ACADEMY in an exciting programme.
Pianist Jan Michiels, a longtime core member of I SOLISTI, joins forces with three NextGeneration Artists, our talent development programme for advanced young artists. Alongside chamber music by Beethoven and Poulenc, they perform Wim Henderickx’s Droombeelden in an ode to the Flemish composer who died far too early in 2022 and worked intimately with I SOLISTI for many years. With compositions for the four musicians, Siebe Thijs, a student of Wim’s, enters into a dialogue with Lotte Dodion’s poem based on Droombeelden
A concert entirely devoted to artistic continuity and renewal between different generations.
MUSIC
Ludwig van Beethoven
Trio, op.11 piano, clarinet and bassoon
Wim Henderickx
Droombeelden piano, oboe and bassoon
Igor Stravinski
3 pieces for clarinet solo
Siebe Thys & Lotte Dodion
Creation piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
Francis Poulenc
Trio piano, oboe and bassoon
I SOLISTI & I SOLISTI NextGeneration
Jan Michiels (piano)
Balder Dendievel (oboe)
Emile Souvagie (clarinet)
Jappe Dendievel (bassoon)
PRODUCTION
I SOLISTI
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Wednesday 6 November 2024 - 20.15 PM
Liers Cultuurcentrum
Concert honouring the late Wim Henderickx
Sunday 19 January 2025 - 11.00 AM
CC Ter Dilft - Bornem
Saturday 25 January 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC Maasmechelen
Sunday 11 May 2025 - 11.00 AM
Lunalia - Predikherenkerk Mechelen
With live performance by Lotte Dodion
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Saturday 18 January 2025 - 20.00 PM
Cultuur & Vrije Tijd Haacht
Thursday 23 January 2025 - 20.00 PM
GC De Corren
Friday 24 January 2025 - 20.00 PM
30cc Leuven
Sunday 26 January 2025 - 20.15 PM
CC Leopoldsburg
Friday 7 February 2025 - 15.00 & 20.00 PM
Cultuurcentrum Casino
Saturday 8 February 2025 - 20.00 PM
OC ‘t Centrum
Tuesday 18 February 2025 - 20.00 PM Chassé Theater Breda
Tuesday 1 April 2025 - 15.00 & 20.00 PM
CH Merelbeke
Thursday 3 April 2025 - 15.00 PM
NEOS Antwerp
Wednesday 30 April 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC Het Perron Ieper
Tuesday 6 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
Gravenhof OBOEken
Thursday 8 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
GC De Moelie Linkebeek
Friday 9 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
GC Spikkerelle
Saturday 10 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC Stroming
Saturday 10 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC Stroming
Thursday 15 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC ‘t Schaliken Herentals
Friday 16 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
GC Schilde
Saturday 17 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
OC Marke
Sunday 18 May 2025 - 15.00 PM
Het Depot Leuven
Tuesday 20 May 2025 - 14.00 PM
CC Brasschaat
Saturday 24 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
CC Temse
Tuesday 27 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
GC Felix Sohie
Wednesday 28 May 2025 - 20.00 PM
PLAZAnterikken Duffel
SEASON 2024 - 2025
Landru
Well-to-do single man (46 years) seeks charming lady to accompany him on a lavish dinner, an evening at the theatre or a trip to the countryside.
Henri-Désiré Landru seems a neat Ghentleman, but appearances can be deceptive. This bourgeois man, husband and father of four has an extraordinary attraction to women. For four years (1915-1919), the charming Landru lures no fewer than 283 ladies, mostly widows who lost their husbands in the Great War. He promises them heaven, but they end up disappearing into his oven. Apart from huge piles of clothes and some ashes, nothing remains of his victims. The only witness to these atrocities is Landru himself. During the trial, Landru emerges as a master manipulator of court, jury and public. The cunning murderer knows how to refute every accusation in comical and shrewd ways.
“This is not a theatre, monsieur Landru!”
Jan Decleir masterfully puts himself in the shoes of serial killer Landru. The theatre text of Het Banket and Frederik Neyrinck’s music bring the horror history of this creepy entertainer to life. I SOLISTI’s wind quartet takes you into this incredible, true story. Two sopranos from the Flemish Radio Choir oversee the whole and perform, among other things, the voices of the murdered women.
CONCEPT
Het Banket in collaboration with Francis Pollet
COMPOSITION
Frederik Neyrinck
ENSEMBLE
I SOLISTI
Vlaams Radio Koor
ACTOR
Jan Decleir
SINGERS
Jolien De Gendt Kelly Poukens
TEXT & DIRECTION
Brechtje Louwaard
Tristan Versteven
TECHNICIAN
Victor Hidalgo
August 2024
I SOLISTI Summer School
28/08/2024 & 29/08/2024
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Ghent
YoungStarsdag
29/08/2024
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Ghent
YoungStars On Stage
29/08/2024 - 19.00 PM
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Ghent
September 2024
Help! The cake is on fire!
01/09/2024 - 16.00 PM
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Ghent
In What We Trust
21/09/2024 - 20.00 PM
Concertgebouw Bruges
In What We Trust
23/09/2024 - 14.00 PM
Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen
In What We Trust
24/09/2024 - 20.00 PM
Ghent Festival van Vlaanderen
In What We Trust
29/09/2024 - 17.00 PM
Flagey Elsene
October 2024
In What We Trust
02/10/2024 - 20.00 PM
Musis Stadstheater Arnhem
In What We Trust
03/10/2024 - 20.15 PM
Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ
Amsterdam
In What We Trust
06/10/2024 - 20.00 PM
Festival van Vlaanderen
Kempen - Musica Divina Sint-Waldetrudiskerk
Herentals
Czech that!
13/10/2024 - 18.00 PM
Festival 20/21 Leuven
Metamorfosen
19/10/2024 - 20.00 PM
CC Kruispunt Diksmuide
RE(f/v)ERENCE
20/10/2024 - 20.00 PM
STUK Leuven - TRANSIT
November 2024
MANA
04/11/2024 - 07/11/2024
I SOLISTI Residence
Location t.b.d.
Timeless Dialogues
06/11/2024 - 20.15 PM
Liers Cultuurcentrum
RE(f/v)ERENCE
12/11/2024 - 20.45 PM
Theater aan de Parade ‘s Hertogenbosch
November Music
YoungStarsdag 12/11/2024
Location t.b.d.
YoungStarsdag 23/11/2024
Location t.b.d.
Metamorfosen
24/11/2024 - 15.00 PM
CC Sint-Niklaas
Metamorfosen
29/11/2024 - 20.00 PM
CCHA Hasselt
December 2024
Nothing happens, twice 02/12/2024 - 08/12/2024
Development in residence at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam
Raadpleeg onze digitale kalender met links naar de voorstellingen op isolisti.be of door de QR-code te scannen.
n 1953, Cage opened the piano but decided not to touch a key. That same year, Beckett had four actors enter the stage to make them wait for something still to come. Both broke with the legacy of their respective art forms and made the void a protagonist for the first time.
In Nothing happens, twice, two actors and three musicians wonder why both seem to come to a standstill at the same time and what that tells us about our world. As young artists in a time with new pain, they look at the silence between words, the space between notes, the void and what is hiding there.
CONCEPT
Emile Souvagie
I SOLISTI NextGeneration Artist
Ferre Vuye
Stan Martens
MUSIC
Emile Daems
Creation
John Cage and others
TEXT
Ferre Vuye
Stan Martens
MUSICIANS
Emile Souvagie (clarinet)
Alexander Declercq (piano)
Tille Van Gastel (flute)
ACTORS
Ferre Vuye
Stan Martens
PRODUCTION I SOLISTI
EGEL (HEDGEHOG)
As part of the development project LABnotes by I SOLISTI and Johnny MUS, writer and theatre maker Lieke Oolders and composer Richard Hé are working on a new musical theatre performance.
Hedgehog is afraid of becoming cynical. Is there any point in continuing to believe in fantasy? Reality is dragging him towards bitterness. Fortunately, Hedgehog can cling to his ideas and principles.
Using the fable as a form, we celebrate imagination and youthfulness, while dark, adult dilemmas loom on the horizon. Hedgehog seeks his way between imagination and reason. Space and narrow-mindedness. Fables and facts.
LABnotes is a development programme by I SOLISTI and Johnny MUS to discover new, young talent and aid their growth in a professional context. A composer and author are paired to work towards a performance.
Louis Andriessen never saw minimalism as sober or boring. The Dutch composer, who died in 2021, wrote exuberant music driven by momentum that appeals directly to the senses and dances voluptuously on the edge of convention.
I SOLISTI commemorate this giant of the Low Countries, who would have turned 85 this year, in a cinematic double bill. The activist piece Workers’ Union dates from 1975: almost half a century later, this pamphlet with stamping rhythms that insist on better working conditions for factory workers has lost none of its power. A freer but no less urgent piece is M is for Man, Mozart, Music (1991): a tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus, 200 years after his birth. Peter Greenaway’s film is a hilarious postmodern collage, and Andriessen’s score a striking salvo of brass and saxophones. Two Trumpets Descending, a work that I SOLISTI commissioned from Andriessen’s student, colleague and close friend Martijn Padding, brings this uncommon salute to a fitting close.
PROGRAMME
Louis Andriessen
Workers union
Louis Andriessen & Peter Greenaway M is for Man, Mozart, Music
Martijn Padding
Two trumpets descending This composition commission was made possible in part by Fonds
Podiumkunsten Nederland
ENSEMBLE
I SOLISTI
Conducted by Martijn Dendievel
SOPRANO
Laura Bohn
TEXT: AMUZ
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Friday 7 March 2025
20.00 PM
AMUZ
BOULEZ 100
On the occasion of Pierre Boulez’s 100th birthday, two top ensembles from Flanders and the Netherlands join forces to, together with six soloists, a large set-up with loudspeakers and led by conductor Bas Wiegers, literally immerse the audience in the grand master’s genius music.
Répons is undoubtedly Boulez’s most representative and emblematic composition. The project: sometimes you see something sharper by keeping your eyes closed. But how do you adjust your ears? Composers look for ways to broaden and challenge our listening. In Répons, Pierre Boulez turns the age-old idea of question and answer on its head. He literally places the audience in the middle of it: in a circle between the ensemble and the six soloists.
No complex score then again for James Tenney’s In a Large Open Space: the free but carefully placed tones elicit a more nuanced listening.
TEXT: MELISSA PORTAELS
PROGRAMME
James Tenney
In a Large Open Space (1994)
Pierre Boulez
Répons (1981)
PERFORMERS
I SOLISTI & Asko|Schönberg
Conducted by Bas Wiegers
Pauline Post (piano)
Jan Michiels (piano)
Jan Rokyta (harpsichord)
Mirjam Overlach (harp)
Tom De Cock (percussion)
Joey Marijs (percussion)
Oscar Bouwmans (electronics)
Koen Keevel (technician)
Nina Kraszewska (technician)
PRODUCTION
I SOLISTI & Asko|Schönberg in coPRODUCTION met Muziekcentrum De Bijloke en Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ
Made possible with the support of the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian Federal Government through Flanders Tax Shelter
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Thursday 24 April 2025
20.15 PM
Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam
Saturday 26 April 2025
20.30 PM
Floraliënhal Ghent
Organisatie: Muziekcentrum De Bijloke
Sunday 27 April 2025
20.15 PM
De Doelen Rotterdam
Tuesday 29 April 2025
20.00 PM
DE SINGEL Antwerp
I SOLISTI ACADEMY 2024 - 2025
YoungStars (selection on 1 September 2024)
YoungStars are promising young musicians between the ages of 10 and 20. Together with the youths and their context, a tailor-made trajectory is drawn up, for which a high level of motivation and commitment is required.
In dialogue with ‘Deeltijds Kunstonderwijs’, the YoungStars receive additional artistic training and concert opportunities. They are each accompanied by an ensemble member of I SOLISTI who acts as a mentor.
NextGeneration Artists
NextGeneration Artist is a programme for promising soloists who are at the beginning of their professional careers. They receive careful guidance in the development of their careers. They are given opportunities to participate in projects and they are given final artistic responsibility for their own elaborate concert programme, before potentially becoming core members of the ensemble.
MakerSpace focuses on talented and imaginative makers. Under the wings of I SOLISTI, they search for their own artistic voice. During this development process, the artist’s creativity is challenged and experimentation and innovation in wind music are encouraged. With the knowledge and experience gathered, the young artist can learn by trial and error.
MakerSpace offers many opportunities for development. Not just in terms of art, but also in business and organisation, depending on the artist’s needs and personal emphases.
I SOLISTI Summer School | In co-production with Muziekcentrum De Bijloke
During the annual I SOLISTI Summer School (from 2024), young talented woodwind players, brass players and percussionists (aged 10-20) from all over Flanders get the chance to take two days of individual and chamber music lessons with top Belgian soloists. In addition, they will attend workshops on various aspects related to making music (stage presence, dealing with stage stress, tai chi, etc.). Participants also get to know the I SOLISTI YoungStars and have the opportunity to audition for the YoungStar programme. With the I SOLISTI Summer School, I SOLISTI aims to identify new wind and percussion talent and help them along their way.
LABnotes | In co-production with Johnny MUS
LABnotes is a development project by I SOLISTI and Johnny MUS to discover and grow new, young talent in a professional context. A composer and author are paired up and work towards a performance together.
Donkie DON QUICHOT Sjot
The 2024-2025 crop of I SOLISTI YoungStars will work on a new musical theatre performance to music by Simon Van Hoecke and to words by Simone Milsdochter, based on the graphic novel Don Quixote by Flix.
Alphonse is a noble knight who sees it as his duty to protect the weak and pursue justice. Together with his servant and loyal companion Robin, he goes on adventures to fight injustice. They commit heroic deeds, end up in hilarity and have their hearts thoroughly stirred.
Or is all of this just a dream, and is this where the power of imagination comes into play?
In the autumn of his life, Alfons imagines the world as he would like it to be: magnanimous in courage and good at heart. In this way, he seeks shelter from its raw and unsavoury reality.
Dream dances with reality, fiction plays with fact and illusion fights against the real.
In our Donkie DON QUICHOT Sjot, an old man contemplates the world, a daughter watches her father and a little boy observes his grandfather.
A teetering concert adventure that moves between ALLEGRO CON BRIO and ADAGISSIMO.
ENSEMBLE I SOLISTI YoungStars Conducted by Simon Van Hoecke
ACTORS
Simone Milsdochter Mathias Van de brul
Sunday 3 March 2025 15.00 PM Muziekcentrum De Bijloke
Antwerp is now the Venice of the River Scheldt. The water level has burst its banks year after year and large parts of the historic city centre are submerged. Daily life is meticulously managed by DE HAND LLC, the city’s most important company, owned by its founder ANtigoon. Sylvie Brabo, one of the employees, enjoys the benefits of the system. Yet things start to get twisted: why aren’t the spare supplies and living quarters made available to more people? A story about free movement, (un)fair (re)-distribution, courage and compassion.
Together with (city) poet & performer Lotte Dodion, composer/bassoonist and I SOLISTI MakerSpace artist Jasper Charlet is working on ANTIGOON, a new musictheatre production.
Jasper Charlet (b. 1997) is a composer, (contra)bassoonist and arranger. At the age of 16, he started his senior studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, where he studied with Francis Pollet, Filip Neyens, Wim Henderickx, Alain Craens and Luc Van Hove. Within his MakerSpace trajectory at I SOLISTI, he previously created the chamber opera Heyra, conducted by Martijn Dendievel.
Jasper and Lotte are coached by Frederik Neyrinck, Ruud Gielens, Francis Pollet and Lucas Derycke, among others.
Because music knows something. Something you can’t put into words but can’t keep in either. He is shy, so shy. He doesn’t have many talents but he excels at one thing; Max can make music. When Max is scared or anxious, he withdraws, closes his eyes and counts down, or rather, up ... 1, 2, 3, 4 ... and he lets his hands roam free. He gives them free rein, lets them play. They are making music! Shyness plays no role now. In his room, by himself, his imaginations run wild. Sounds become people, melodies are events. Life, which he is so afraid of in real life, he can now experience without shyness. But however deeply Max retreats into his inner world - safely in his room, on his own, with the door locked, the outside world will always knock. And outside, other melodies resound. Melodies that don’t like ‘solo’, but call for polyphony. Rhythms that yearn to meet, to play together. Unlock your door, Max! Dare. Jump past your shyness! Who knows, something might happen that you could never have imagined - there, on your own, in your room, behind that locked door. Maybe something beautiful will happen. Something for which there is no melody yet.
Through its NextGeneration programme, I SOLISTI supports percussionist Mathijs Everts (°2002) in his Master 2 graduation project at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, in which he makes his own adaptation of Modest Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, in collaboration with an ensemble of young musicians and with theatre maker/actress Simone Milsdochter (target group 8+). Coaches in this project are Francis Pollet, artistic director of I SOLISTI and Frederik Neyrinck, I SOLISTI Artist in Residence.
MANA
Choreographer/dancer/artist Laura Daelemans (°1999) graduated in Contemporary Dance at de! Kunsthumaniora and in the ArtEZ Bachelor of Dance at Arnhem. She creates physical minimalist work with great attention to detail and with a grotesque facial expression typical of her work.
Laura is working on a multidisciplinary project in her MakerSpacetraject. MANA is inspired by her fascination with the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, with a special focus on the story of Cathelyne van den Bulcke. Cathelyne was burned at the stake in Lier in 1590, but her courage not to name names during the torture led to the end of the witches’ trials in the city. In 2021, Cathelyne was posthumously honoured by the City of Lier.
In this solo performance, Laura unites her visual and choreographic practice for the first time. She collaborates with composer Benjamin Van Esser and CLARINETtist Jelmer De Moed for the musical part, and with illustrator Noura Mariën for animating her own drawings. These drawings focus on three key events in Cathelyne’s life. Coaches for MANA are dramaturg Greet Van Poeck and bassoonist Francis Pollet, artistic director of I SOLISTI.
Next season, Laura will be resident at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam, as part of a structural collaboration between I SOLISTI and Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ for the development of young creators. Her collaboration with clarinetist Jelmer De Moed also came about through Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. Laura is also offered a residency at our home base DE SINGEL.
I SOLISTI
Activities of the ensemble
The activities of I SOLISTI consists of four main pillars:
• concerts (repertoires and creations, ranging from intimate chamber music to impressive masterpieces)
• adventurous operatic and music theatrical projects
• supporting young musicians, composers and creators through our I SOLISTI ACADEMY
• publishing captivating recordings and our quarterly magazine, Reflections
The musical heritage of 250 years of wind (r)evolution from Mozart to the present day, serves as the guiding principle throughout all our work, which is carried out with extreme devotion and is passionatialy embraced, questioned and innovated.
Musicians
I SOLISTI unites famed top musicians, each of whom has individually established a solid reputation as a soloist and orchestra or chamber musician. A permanent core group of some 20 musicians forms the foundation of the ensemble and is expanded or scaled down on the project’s requirements.
Collaborations
We work closely with just about every major stage in Belgium and the ensemble is regularly invited to various festivals and concert halls in Europe. Our aim to spread the value of wind music to various horizons has led us to inspiring collaborations with renowned soloists, conductors, artists, theatre houses, festivals and concert halls.
For many years I SOLISTI has been in residence at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and campus resident of deSingel International Arts Campus. There is a close artistic partnership with the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam, Musis & City Theatre Arnhem, the Concert Hall Bruges, Music Center De Bijloke Ghent and Festival of Flanders Mechelen.
Artist in Residence
Since August 2020, composer Frederik Neyrinck has joined the artistic team of I SOLISTI as Artist in Residence for four seasons. Besides being composer for I SOLISTI, Frederik also takes on his role as a coach and inspiration within the ACADEMY and is a member of the Artistic Advisory Board.
From its home base in Antwerp, I SOLISTI occupies a unique place in the Belgian music landscape.
I SOLISTI is structurally subsidised by the Flemish Government.
What started as a traditional wind octet over 30 years ago has grown, under the leadership of artistic director and founding father Francis Pollet, into an internationally known ensemble and production house.
