There is the summer of freedom, there is Midis-Minimes! For two months you can spice up your weekday lunch date with a portion of chamber music.
Oxalys speelt een suite van de vorig jaar overleden Belgische componist Frédéric Devreese.
Midis-Minimes: lunch with Messiaen, Mendelssohn and more
As usual, timings, instruments and genres cross each other in the programme: from medieval fiddle music to the 20th century with Ligeti, Rota and others as well as pieces by contemporary compatriot Dirk Brossé.
The festival is inaugurated by a handful of excellent ensembles and soloists from Brussels. Quatuor Alfama looked for and found a fifth man for Dvorák’s Piano Quintet (2/7), Oxalys will perform a suite by Frédéric Devreese (6/7), and Trio Khaldei chose the vicious Piano Trio No 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich (8/7).
But chamber music comes in all shapes and sizes. More in the mood for vocal – and aerosol-free – splashing? Then you can look forward to Sophie Karthäuser singing songs by brother and sister Mendelssohn (27/7). Renée Steenvoorden intertwines her own compositions with Bernstein and Mehldau in a balancing act between classical music and jazz (16/8). Or perhaps the unique voice of countertenor Paulin Bündgen (16/7) will charm you. He lands in Bach, but besides Johann Sebastian he also sings works by his uncles Johann Michael and Johann Christoph.
As usual, timings, instruments and genres cross each other in the programme: from medieval fiddle music to the 20th century with Ligeti, Rota and others
At the beginning of August, it is time for the real crowd teasers. Thomas Dieltjens and Piet Kuijken get behind the keyboard together for Olivier Messiaen’s quatre-mains icon Visions de l’Amen (10/8). Fabian Coomans does it the other way around. He performs Reich’s Piano Phase, which normally involves two pianists gradually becoming desynchronized...on his own (11/8).
Finally, in this aftermath of the health crisis, there are remarkably few horns on the program. But now that aerophones also have been confirmed as completely Covid safe, we dare to enter the hall again for the clarinet trio around Alexander Declerq (18/8). Oh, and we almost forgot to say that Queen Elisabeth Competition finalist Sylvia Huang is coming over from Amsterdam (23/7)!
MIDIS-MINIMES
1/7 > 31/8, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, www.midis-minimes.be
Read more about: Muziek , midis-minimes
