deSingel International Arts Campus

Artiste Associé - mamaza - Workshop Mamaza

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:00:00 GMT

maandag 2 april 2012 - donderdag 5 april 2012

Dans - Collaboration is a key concept in all mamaza's performances and activities. They work as three individuals in a collective structure based on the belief that cooperation is always an added value. They do not seek compromise, but to distil the essence. In this workshop they will present various ways of and configurations for cooperation. They focus on the third eye, on the awareness of physicality and performativity. Here the body is the means for both understanding and portrayal. info and enrolment: tickets@desingel.be This workshop is for artists who are developing their own work.

Marc Ribot & Ensemble - Really the Blues

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

zaterdag 31 maart 2012 - zaterdag 31 maart 2012

Muziek - jazz - Guitarist Marc Ribot's stunning attack - coming across as cries of distress, as it were - holds the listener in a constant state of alarm. His guitar-playing is by turns supple, raw and rugged. Sound collages of musical fragments varying from polyrhythmic post-bop, Cuba, psychedelic surf-rock, 'vintage punk' and Zorns Naked City to Faith No More and 'Looney Tunes' melodies. In 'Really the Blues', Ribot pays homage to the Mighty Mezz and to Black America's 'birth of tragedy'. Wielding a Fender Jaguar guitar, and liable to wild, emotional gesturing, he challenges fate. The starting-point is Chicago anno 1955, full of midnight soul jazz on local radio, teeming with anecdotes about 'muggle' and 'vipers'. The final destination is uncertain, the possibilities of misinterpretation infinite. Simon Vinkenoog describes it as follows: "From the American ports, from Black Africa and from the Middle East came travellers and their stories, as well as musicians singing in praise of weed. Cab Calloway had a repertoire of 'reefer songs', Mezz Mezzrow opened with his 'Really the Blues', a world behind jazz, and Norman Mailer wrote his famous essay 'The White Negro'. In this, he presents the hipster, the white negro, the American existentialist with his jive, marihuana and post-atomic consciousness, no longer scared by anyone". In an analogy of Blixa Bargeld's adorating of Mezzrow, Ribot refreshes us with unpolished 'mezzy' sounds during a fascinating 'journey into the blues sound'.

Luk Perceval - Münchner Kammerspiele - Kleiner Mann - Was nun? naar Hans Fallada

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:00:00 GMT

zaterdag 31 maart 2012 - zondag 1 april 2012

Theater - 'Kleiner Mann - Was nun?' is a play based on the novel by the German writer Hans Fallada (1893-1947). It is a love story full of hope. The story is set in the financially beleaguered Germany of the early thirties. The main characters are Johannes Pinneberg and his girlfriend Emma 'Lämmchen' Mörschel. One day Emma is surprised to discover that she is two months pregnant. The couple marry and try to survive as a young family despite the unstable economic times. However, John has a rough time. He frequently loses his job and consequently starts to lose his self-esteem. Emma remains his refuge in troubled times however, and because of her love John does not give up. Luk Perceval, who is a guest director at the Münchner Kammerspiele, uses this opportunity to talk about the present. He combines empathizing dialogues with a more detached narrative in the tradition of Bertolt Brecht. He views his characters, played by the excellent Munich Kammerspiele ensemble, with compassion and tenderness. There are no grand gestures or loud expressions of suffering. Instead, we see an impressive stage set that shows you how devastating society can be for the common man. Was tun? Was nun?

Meta4

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 30 maart 2012 - vrijdag 30 maart 2012

Muziek - Kwartet - Beethoven was not the only composer with hearing problems. In his old age Fauré was also afflicted, which led to the distilled and almost unworldly writing that marks his sole string quartet. A seldom-lyrical critic wrote of the 'Andante' that it "is bathed in a supernatural light, from beginning to end". Although Smetana was within a short time consigned to deafness by syphilis, he continued to compose. The Second String Quartet is a tragi-comic reflection of the frustrations in his life and is the final work he wrote before his illness dragged him into insanity. Schumann, too, ended with mental illness, albeit that in his case it did not originate in deafness, but in an antithetical misery: auditory hallucinations. However, he had long previously written his magisterial Third String Quartet. In the first three movements, sharply contrasting emotions succeed each other, all culminating in a finale full of good-natured humour. Our three patients are skilfully nursed by the young Finnish quartet Meta4, fortunately very sharp of ear. In no time at all, performances in the leading concert halls of the world have catapulted these four instrumentalists to fame.

Koor en Orkest van de Vlaamse Opera - Jost, Rumor

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

donderdag 29 maart 2012 - donderdag 29 maart 2012

Muziek - deSingel & de Vlaamse Opera -

Backstage After Party

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

dinsdag 27 maart 2012 - dinsdag 27 maart 2012

Jongeren -

Radu Lupu

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

dinsdag 27 maart 2012 - dinsdag 27 maart 2012

Muziek - Piano - PLEASE NOTE! The date of this concert has been changed to Tuesday 27 March 2012. Ask us what we would choose for our 'Desert Island Discs' and we would immediately reply, "Radu Lupu's Schubert recordings"! Even better is to hear the pianist perform live. The concerts he gives become fewer by the year, so don't miss this opportunity to hear him. For the few who don't yet know him, Radu Lupu is one of the most discerning pianists of his generation. Spiritual, meditative, contemplative, intimist and mystical are among the adjectives constantly used to describe him. Lupu, the philosopher. Lupu, the magician of sound. Virtually ascetic, with an extreme economy of movement, he allows the piano to sing. Above all, he brings a salutary repose and an enormous feeling of freedom to his playing. His rubati are breathtaking, his palette of sound colour infinite. When he plays Schubert, time appears to stand still. His Debussy transports the listener to another universe. Radu Lupu - the perfect antidote to our hectic existence.

Atrium String Quartet - Organisatie Carlo Schreiber Productions

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

maandag 26 maart 2012 - maandag 26 maart 2012

Verhuur -

Lod & Musiques Nouvelles & Vocaallab Amsterdam . Filip Rathé - De Blinden (opera van Daan Janssens en Patrick Corillon op tekst van Maurice Maeterlinck)

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

zaterdag 24 maart 2012 - zondag 25 maart 2012

Muziek - Ars Musica - 2011 marks the centenary of Maurice Maeterlinck's receipt of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Next year, 2012, we are celebrating the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of his birth. The young Bruges composer Daan Janssens (b. 1983), has joined forces with stage designer Patrick Corillon to engage with Maeterlinck's poetical world. The basic idea for the stage design is a magic lantern, a machine that the singers manipulate simply, almost childishly. In 'De Blinden' (The Blind), we see six blind people (singers) in a dark, autumnal wood, awaiting the return of a priest. They converse, in order to temper the fear aroused by the sounds around them - Nature's signals - a flight of nightbirds, the wind rustling through dead leaves, the swishing of the nearby sea. They interpret all these ever more emphatically as signs of an impending catastrophic event - death. The dramatic rhythm takes its pulse from an alternation of ebb and flow, of fear and hope, that steadily gathers pace as the opera proceeds … until the moment when they discover the dead body of the priest, the only one who could have shown them a way out.

Kryptos Quartet

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:00:00 GMT

zaterdag 24 maart 2012 - zaterdag 24 maart 2012

Muziek - Ars Musica - The occasion for this concert is the world première of 'Songs van de Schoonheid' by the Dutch composer Pim Moorer. All the elements of this creation were carefully assembled - a string quartet, a pianist, a singer and an actress - and it was out of conversations with the artists that the overall programme grew. We first hear the marvellous Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat in a short solo by Frederic Rzewski, which sets the tone. The torch then passes to the Kryptos Quartet for a pure string quartet by the Walloon composer Claude Ledoux. 'Play Time' is his second quartet and was first performed at the 2004 Ars Musica Festival. In 'Annunciation', the Canadian Omar Daniel refers to the Angel Gabriel's appearance to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, the six movements being inspired by six Renaissance paintings. Subtle, live electronics accompany the string quartet here. And then we're all set for Pim Moorer's 'Songs van de Schoonheid'. This new work is based on the stunt performed by the French tightrope walker Philippe Petit in 1974: crossing between New York's Twin Towers on a high wire.

Het Collectief - Feesten van angst en pijn (Paul van Ostaijen)

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 23 maart 2012 - vrijdag 23 maart 2012

Muziek - Ars Musica - When Paul van Ostaijen wrote his 'Feesten van angst en pijn' (Feasts of Fear and Pain, 1918-1921), he was looking for a new language detached from narrative meaning. Through the use of handwriting, colours and experimental arrangements on the page, he suggests that his poetry does not necessarily have to signify anything concrete. The young Antwerp composer Bram Van Camp (b. 1980) has been fascinated for ten years by this collection of poems. Because the text does not suggest any inherent meaning, he determined to flesh out the interpretation musically. He began to set an initial poem to music, 'Verse 4' appearing in 2001 and the first three verses following in 2010. He has now set three other poems to music: 'Barbaarse dans', 'Angst een dans' and the long, abstract poem 'De mars van de hete zomer'. In order to reinforce the visual aspect of Van Ostaijen's poetry, video artist Klaas Verpoest has prepared a distilled and synchronized performance of the handwritten poems. Works by Mauricio Kagel and Karel Goeyvaerts complete the programme. Before the concert, there is a chance to get to know Mauricio Kagel better as a film-maker, with a screening of two of his surrealist films: 'Match' and 'Antithèse'.

2 Kagelfilms - 'Match' en 'Antithèse'

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:15:00 GMT

vrijdag 23 maart 2012 - vrijdag 23 maart 2012

Muziek - Ars Musica -

Le Concert Lorrain & Nederlands Kamerkoor . Christoph Prégardien

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

donderdag 22 maart 2012 - donderdag 22 maart 2012

Muziek - Focus Prégardien - Once again, deSingel forms the backdrop to Bach's 'St. John Passion', the apotheosis of all Western music prior to 1724. This time, however, Christoph Prégardien does not sing the part of the Evangelist, but conducts two top ensembles: the French Baroque orchestra Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kamerkoor, which takes this occasion to celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary. In 1724, Bach had held the post of Thomas Kantor in Leipzig for about a year, and it was in that city that he wrote his eternal monuments, the 'John Passion' and the 'Matthew Passion'. In these works, Bach makes free use of the Biblical texts, enriching them and adding reflective texts to them by way of commentary. The composition is almost madrigalian. This musical setting of the passion story according to St. John expresses Bach's consciousness of death more than any other of his works. The work itself can be understood only from the point of view of his intense religiosity, the conviction of his Lutheran faith, and his life and death in God.

Motion Trio

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

woensdag 21 maart 2012 - woensdag 21 maart 2012

Muziek - Accordeon! - This slightly eccentric accordion trio from Poland has the accordion laughing and howling, not to mention whistling, grinding, hissing, whispering and growling, even. Coaxing unheard-of sounds from the accordion appears to be the trio's guiding principle - as we should have known. These three adventurous musicians have reinvented the accordion for the twenty-first century. No folk music. No tango. No musette. Instead, swathes of sound, full of rhythm, drive and percussion, over which float the melodies. All the while mixing in elements from rock, jazz, minimal music, techno, heavy metal, Bach and Chopin … the list goes on. In numbers such as 'Play-Station' and 'Ufo', the Motion Trio creates intergalactic sound dimensions whereby samples and electronics are simulated purely acoustically. Starting out as street musicians on the main market in Cracow, they have since conquered international stages and have worked with such celebrities as Bobby McFerrin and Michael Nyman. In short, an 'infernal trio' that has caught on among both the pop-loving youth and the curious classical public.

Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen - Rach 4 (organisatie door derden)

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

maandag 19 maart 2012 - maandag 19 maart 2012

Verhuur -

Britten Happening

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:30:00 GMT

zondag 18 maart 2012 - zondag 18 maart 2012

Muziek - Britten symfonisch - Few twentieth-century composers boast such a wide and various range of works as those of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). This Englishman was successful as an opera composer, wrote reams of film music and had an equal facility for producing works for both chorus and chamber ensemble. As an orchestral composer, too, Britten showed himself to be a shrewd and inventive craftsman. An ideal figure, then, for a composer 'happening' full to bursting with bold orchestral pieces and intimate chamber music. The whole event is in the safe charge of the prospective principal conductor of deFilharmonie, Edo de Waart. Britten wrote 'Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge' - a tribute to his former teacher - in fulfilment of a commission from The Boyd Neel Orchestra, a virtuoso string ensemble whose technical prowess he exploited to the full in the score. 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' was likewise a set of variations, this time on the well-known rondo theme from Purcell's 'Abdelazar', and was initially conceived as a score for a documentary film for young people about the various instruments of the orchestra - hence the introduction of the instruments one by one. Britten's Piano Concerto couples energetic bravura playing with sultry waltzes and bouncy march music; in the slow third movement, lyrical melodic lines are edged with pianistic gold brocade. The 'Death in Venice' suite brings together the best music from the opera of the same name. Anyone looking for a few moments away from all the symphonic bombast ought not to miss the 'Canticles', a work that one seldom gets to hear live! In these five dramatic scenes on religious themes, Britten spins expressive vocal lines within a close-knit framework of divergent, vocal chamber settings. Since winning the Tromp Competition in 2008, the young British-South African Heath Quartet has been a welcome guest in the major Dutch concert halls; the favourite of this foursome is Britten's first youthful quartet. We come then to the famous Cello Sonata, inspired by the composer's friendship with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and played during this 'happening' by the same cellist who brought us the Cello Concerto earlier in the season - Alban Gerhardt, here with his permanent accompanist, Steven Osborne.

Camerata Bern . Antje Weithaas

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 16 maart 2012 - vrijdag 16 maart 2012

Muziek - Ken uw klassiekers - England has the London Sinfonietta, The Netherlands the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and Switzerland the Camerata Bern, a chamber orchestra that generally plays without a conductor and that is familiar with a wide range of styles. In this concert, eighteenth-century classics stand side by side with works from the inter-war years of the twentieth century. In the 1920s and 1930s, short shrift was given in European art music to the Late Romantic and to experimental excrescences from before the First World War. Seeking a cool, objective tonal idiom, composers turned to the music of the eighteenth century. It was in this spirit that Stravinsky based his concerto for chamber orchestra 'Dumbarton Oaks' - named after the country estate of his American principal - on the Baroque concerto grosso. Within the forceful figuration and the tight polyphony, there are undeniable echoes of Bach's 'Brandenburg Concertos'. Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto, performed here in an arrangement for viola, strikes a more Romantic tone, albeit that the fairly rhapsodic form is clearly based on the three-movement structure of the classical concerto. For his virtuoso 'Sinfonia Concertante', Mozart adopted a course between symphony and concerto. The melodic exchanges between soloists are virtuoso, but so is Mozart's tight orchestral writing, rich in contrapuntal exchanges between the various sections of the orchestra.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma - Life and Times, episode 2

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 16 maart 2012 - zondag 18 maart 2012

Theater - Is it possible to create a thrilling theatre performance from the most trivial biography? The unconventional New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma, powered by its two directors, Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, do just this! And how! Last season a wave of enthusiasm rolled through our Theatre Studio when the first episode of 'Life and Times' was shown: the libretto was a sung telephone conversation with one of the actresses. Recorded and written down word for word with all the accompanying pauses and hesitations. Now, and following the childhood years, episode 2 brings you all the spicey details of her puberty, her changing body, her first love, her first secret cigarette and so on. The main character is played by various performers, including the dancer Fumiyo Ikeda, who is also a creative mainstay of Rosas. In a combination of infectious performance pleasure and dead seriousness, the group, dressed in brightly coloured Adidas sportswear and accompanied by synthesizer music, perform even the most banal and trivial details. Because the telephone conversation is staged in its entirety! And this is only the second episode in a series comprising no fewer than ten parts.

Zachary Oberzan - GEANNULEERD! - Tell Me Love is Real

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

donderdag 15 maart 2012 - zondag 18 maart 2012

Theater - For many years Zachary Oberzan worked as an actor with the New York theatre company Nature Theater of Oklahoma. In the meantime he has gone solo with performances in which he is responsible for both the whole concept and execution. He directs, films, edits and acts. Last season at the New York festival he presented 'Your Brother. Remember?', a tragicomic story about his relationship with his brother. He backed up this personal story with an ingenious collage of Hollywood movies and home videos. Film and autobiography, fiction and documentary are still recurring elements in his work. This time however, in 'Tell Me, is Love Real', which is a coproduction by deSingel, his inspiration does not come from the action films of his hero Jean-Claude Van Damme. He is equally fascinated by art films like 'Close Up' by the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, which he now uses. In it he plays all the characters himself. However, the main character falsely presents himself as a film-maker. Oberzan uses this material to question the truth about being and artist. How far can an artist go?

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker & Louis Lortie

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

donderdag 15 maart 2012 - donderdag 15 maart 2012

Muziek - Grandes Dames - Marie-Elisabeth Hecker is only twenty-four, but we already dare to consider her a great lady. In 2005, she caused quite a stir at the Rostropovich Cello Competition, being the first in the thirty-year history of the competition to walk off not only with the first prize, but also two special prizes. Since then, conductors such as Gergiev and orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic have been queuing up to work with her. Her cello playing is at once fresh, energetic and elegant, and she captivates immediately with her warm, lyrical tone. Partnered by the sensitive pianist Louis Lortie, she plays Chopin's Cello Sonata, which is often regarded as one of his less inspired works. But Hecker and Lortie sweep all such prejudices aside. It is with great fantasy that they tell the story of the tsar's son Ivan and Princess Maja in Janácek's 'Fairy Tale' ('Pohadka'). In Poulenc's good-humoured Cello Sonata, we hear the composer at the height of his powers. Hecker and Lortie chase each other in a riotous and flirtatious exchange.

Rondleiding deSingel

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:00:00 GMT

zondag 11 maart 2012 - zondag 11 maart 2012

Architectuur rondleiding - The architectural appeal of deSingel makes it an attraction in itself. It was originally designed by Leon Stynen (1899-1990). Since the building was inaugurated in 1968, it has had a number of major and minor enhancements. Over the last few decades Stéphane Beel (1955) has been responsible for several minor additions. As he clearly had a great understanding of and feeling for Leon Stynen's architectural idiom, he was the ideal candidate to design the 12,000 m² extension that was inaugurated in October 2010. Beel's design displays both independence and a deep respect for Stynen's architecture. There is a guided tour of this impressive architectural achievement. Our tip: after the tour pay a visit to our Grand Café. The Sunday brunch is an absolute must. booking required, at tickets@desingel.be or on +32 (0)3 248 28 28

Groot Robert Stolz Promenadeorkest

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT

zaterdag 10 maart 2012 - zondag 11 maart 2012

Verhuur -

Luk Perceval - Toneelgroep Amsterdam - In Ongenade naar J. M. Coetzee

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 9 maart 2012 - zaterdag 10 maart 2012

Theater - A second production directed by Luk Perceval this season! As a guest director at Toneelgroep Amsterdam he asked Josse De Pauw to create a stage adaptation of 'Disgrace'. In 1999 J. M. Coetzee was awarded the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature for this astonishing novel. In it he aptly describes how David Lurie, a professor of romantic poetry, can no longer find his place in the new South Africa. Lurie, in his fifties and twice divorced, has a relationship with a student. His colleagues denounce him, but he refuses to crawl. After he is dismissed he decides to leave Cape Town and visit his daughter Lucy. She lives on a remote farm in the rugged Eastern Cape. Lucy is raped by a group of blacks in a brutal attack. Later it turns out she is pregnant, but she refuses to have an abortion. Nor does she report the incident to the police. She consciously wants to learn to survive in the new South Africa. David Lurie does not understand his daughter's choices. He has lost forever the zest of the romantic poet Lord Byron, who he idolized. He now works in a dog kennel where he lovingly helps to put down stray dogs.

La Casa de los Sordera - Orthodoxia y Vanguardia

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 9 maart 2012 - vrijdag 9 maart 2012

Muziek - Flamenco - In 2009 we played host to the Moneos. This time around, we are presenting another flamenco dynasty, the Sordera family, which boasts some of the most important exponents of 'cante jondo'. The Moneos are all part of a 'Flamencos' dynasty containing such notable names as the singers Paco la Luz and El Niño Gloria, and the dancers Juana and Fernanda Antúnez. They worked in the wake of the 'antiflamenquismo del 1898', a movement of Spanish intellectuals that regarded flamenco as a caricature of tourist Spain and as a type of music associated with drunkenness, musty bars and immorality. The Sorderas were the first to resist this disdain on the part of the Spanish intelligentsia and they continue to campaign passionately in defence of authentic flamenco. The family produced Manuel Soto 'El Sordera', contemporary of the generation of 1927, patriarch and distinguished link in this flamenco dynasty, and simply one of the most important artists in the history of flamenco. 'Orthodoxia y Vanguardia' is a musical journey from the most primitive cantes up to avant-garde flamenco. Vicente and Enrique Soto perform the traditional or 'primitive' cantes, including the harsher variants with such styles as 'martinetes', 'soleas', 'seguiriyas' and 'tarantos'. In the avant-garde section, we hear 'alegrias', 'rumbas' and 'tangos' in a modern setting by José Soto 'Sorderita'.

Mind the Book 2012 - Festival rond boeken en actualiteit

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:00:00 GMT

vrijdag 9 maart 2012 - zondag 11 maart 2012

Project - 'Mind the Book 'is a new international festival for the mind organised by the Vooruit arts centre in Ghent and deSingel. Both organisers have recognised the need for an alternative and topical book project in Flanders in which the critical questioning of society plays a central role. It was on for the first time at deSingel in March 2011, and focused on the commitment of key writers and thinkers. International keynote speakers Ingrid Betancourt, Fawzia Koofi, Robert Fisk and Umberto Eco symbolised the festival's ambitions and the quality it is aiming for. 'Mind the Book' is held annually, alternately in Antwerp and Ghent. In 2012 it is the Vooruit's turn. Here too, inspiring discussions, conversations, book presentations, lectures, a book fair and so on will be presented simultaneously at a variety of venues. info www.mindthebook.be from January 2012