Luckily you don’t have to wait till then for your enjoyment – the calendar is already chock full of great things! And I’d like to tell you about a few of my personal favourites.
In September we start with our partner-in-crime Brussels Philharmonic for a reissue of Stravinsky’s The King of the Stars, the world premiere of which was performed in 1939 by our illustrious predecessors of the NIR!
In November our good friend Ola Gjeilo will return to Belgium with a new work: we will combine his Dreamweaver with Death Speaks by David Lang – two contemporary composers with a very different language.
Chief conductor Hervé Niquet will be present throughout the season, but he will wait until just before the holiday to serve up the pièce de résistance: an unquestionably colourful and memorable performance of La Veuve Joyeuse, with as narrator and director the humorous all-round talent François Pirette.
In January we take ‘The Gospel Train’ back in time, to the young America where the slaves in the cottonfields sang in desperation about their fate. Ken Burton seemed to us the person with the right experience to lead this project on Negro Spirituals.
And if you don’t find us on our own stage, that means we’re performing abroad … The Flemish Radio Choir will be playing again in Paris and in Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
So that’s quite enough inspiration to make a real vocal festival of the ‘Tournée Vocale’ in June.
We’re looking forward to it already.
Alain De Ley - artistic direction