Concise.pdf - Brugge Plus

BRUGGE 2002 also conceived new festivals,
such as American Air, a festival
based on contemporary Americaninspired
music. The concept came from
Lukas Pairon and Jean-Luc Plouvier, and
the performers included Klangforum
Wien, Ictus, the Danel Quartet and the
Black Jackets Company. This was no
easy festival, but it nonetheless aroused
an interest among the public for less
familiar musical genres.
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BRUGGE 2002
Over-stemmen (In Consort) was a two-day
Übung
festival with new interpretations of old
mediaeval polyphonic music with Bl!ndman, Grain de la Voix, Ricercar Consort and
Frederic Rzewski. Here, too, it emerged that a public for such innovative festivals has
to be built up, but with a total of some 600 listeners the event could nonetheless
point to an excellent and gratifying result.
The new Jazz BRUGGE 2002 festival scored well with some 4,000 spectators and a
considerable press interest. It brought a multitude of top European jazz musicians to
Bruges. The organisers intend to have this festival held every two years in the future.
BRUGGE 2002 also participated in the CD box “The Finest in Belgian Jazz”, with 10
leading Belgian jazz groups, published by the De Werf arts centre. One CD from the
series was presented every month in the form of a release concert. This project had
an impact far beyond Bruges and the CD box was awarded a “Choc de l’année 2002”
(Sensational CD of the Year, 2002) by the French magazine Jazzman.
One exceptional festival at the cutting edge of contemporary art and music was .WAV,
an itinerary with 19 soundscape installations taking in the canals in the city centre.
The concept was devised by Joris De Voogt, and there was co-operation with three colleges:
Le Fresnoy from Tourcoing (France), the Institut für Angewandte
Theaterwissenschaft from Giessen (Germany) and the Rits from Brussels. NEXT.WAV
gave young sound artists a platform. An exciting interaction was thus brought about
between students and renowned sound artists and soundscapers. On the fringe of
this major itinerary, Clingfilm and (K-RAA-K) presented an OFF.WAV festival, where
young artists worked with new recycling.
This project made quite a name for itself on an artistic level. Admittedly it was a difficult
business getting all projects executed correctly. On several occasions the sensitivity
of high-tech sound equipment within unusual frameworks played tricks on us
and various installations were plagued by vandalism, with some even being wrecked.
Champ d’Action created a Music and Architecture festival, which was interwoven into the
Heritage Days. Seven Belgian and international composers drew inspiration from very
different locations in Bruges. Space and sound were linked and a very diverse and clever
itinerary was created for the perception of music and architecture through the city.
The human voice in numerous musical genres is central to the well-known Institute
for Living Voice, which now had the opportunity to try out the myriad possibilities
offered by the Concertgebouw. David Moss, Meredith Monk, Lydia Lunch, etc. – they
were all won over!
In vocal music, BRUGGE 2002 continued to pull out all the stops with the soprano
Maria Christina Kiehr, the Collegium Vocale directed by Paul Van Nevel and La Petite
Bande under the direction of Sigiswald Kuijken. Each of these made for a delightful
evening, and each was sold out.