o_193n9osnkre71u58dd453pnuea.pdf

P—8
It looks like 2014 will be a vintage year
for B’Rock. Over the last few weeks
and months we have shared prestigious
platforms in Belgium and abroad
with high-profile conductors, soloists
and directors. From the Holland
Festival to the Wiener Festwochen,
from René Jacobs to Jérémie Rhorer,
from Romeo Castellucci to Pierre
Audi. And the press were very
keen too. In March 2014, the highly
reputable Financial Times wrote
of the production of Arthur: «The
orchestra’s precision, lush sound,
unorthodox tempi and beautiful
ornamentation make this evening
a musical treat». And De Standaard,
which attended the concert in Vienna
in May, wrote the following: «Some
enchanting sounds were produced
by the members of B’Rock in the pit.
The grating of the gates of hell, the
echoes, the consoling dance steps: the
orchestra and its delightful playing
combined sorrow and despair into
a single, very beautiful whole.»
And that makes us proud!
But that is not all. There is
also plenty to look forward to
in the 2014-2015 season ahead. In
December, we shall be touring with
Rias Kammerchor and under the
baton of René Jacobs, presenting
performances of Bach’s complete
Christmas oratorio. In addition, we
are reviving the acclaimed musicaltheatre
production Arthur, recording
Handel’s Messiah on DVD and linking
the chaos of Rebel’s Les Élements to
Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. And Mozart
will of course be making an appearance
too.
What challenges and discoveries
does the prevailing music scene have
ENG
in store for a baroque orchestra? In
May 2015 B’Rock will be devoting a
festival at Flagey in Brussels to this
question. Together with such musical
guests as BL!NDMAN and Uri Caine,
we shall be exploring the fascinating
contemporary music, and historical
and contemporary performance
practices. Beyond baroque!
«I am going to paint in a fashion
that is in no way reminiscent of
painting», Narcisse Tordoir once
said, thereby putting himself beyond
the bounds of the medium, but at the
same time remaining an extension of
it. It is this quote that led to the design
for the cover and pictures inside this
brochure. The works by Narcisse
Tordoir, one of the most influential
Belgian artists, depict in an odd sort
of way our quest for the how, what
and why of baroque music in the
present day.
The cover image, The Pink Spy 3
(2013), refers to a work by the 18thcentury
Venetian artist Giambattista
Tiepolo. Two children look around
them, bewildered. It is not clear
what has just happened and what
is going to happen. The scene just
outside the picture that draws their
attention remains a riddle. Tiepolo’s
famous clouds here take the form
of white plastic. Combined with
wilted plants, rubble and a marble
dog, the whole thing has a mysterious
air. This outsized work seems at
first sight to be photographic. But
something is not right. A painting
by Narcisse Tordoir does not necessarily
involve oil paint; as he says,
«a painting can be anything».
Beyond baroque!