The environment of the Italian composers from the 17th century is not exactly similar to that of children of ten or eleven. Even so, both worlds will meet in the musical project week that the pupils of the Arthur school will go through at AMUZ. Recorder player Peter Van Heyghen and the music teachers of De Veerman will galvanize the children into action with their clarifying passion and their fascinating stories about Italian baroque. With gusto the bold youngsters will get totally immersed in the music with a view to performing their own compositions at a public presentation. A video montage will give you an idea of the week’s proceedings.

in collaboration with De Veerman & Arthurschool Borgerhout

08 April, 2011 12:00 -- AMUZ

Mary Magdalen, the repentant sinner from St Luke’s gospel, served in the 17th century as an example and a guide for all those who, despite all worldly seductions, wanted to pursue the enlightened path of divine reason. In Ludovico Forni’s libretto Magdalen’s sleep is disturbed by open warfare between the personifications of earthly and heavenly love. Giovanni Bononcini was only twenty years old when in 1690 he was commissioned by the duke of Modena to set this libretto to music. Aware of the fact that his patron was a real connoisseur of oratorios, the young talented composer wanted to prove his mettle. The result: a masterpiece of musical inventiveness and baroque expressiveness, with an emotional impact that goes far beyond the mere significance of the text. Bononcini at this most baroque, and baroque at its best!

Performers
NN, soprano | Gabriella Martellacci, alto | Mario Cecchetti, tenor | Furio Zanasi, bass | Peter Van Heyghen, artistic direction

Programme
Giovanni Bononcini: Oratorium La Maddalena a’ piedi di Cristo

08 April, 2011 19:00 -- AMUZ

Paul Van Nevel is one of those happy eccentrics who loves to surprise with unusual ideas, and that’s exactly what he does to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his Huelgas Ensemble. No traditional jubilee programme for the polyphony buffs, but rather a select cigar concert with largely unknown music from Van Nevel’s personal library. The Art of the Cigar carries you along to the Cuban tobacco fields, the Victorian salons, the Parisian smoking rooms and the Berlin artists’ pubs. Smoky texts by Lope de Vega, Charles Perrault, Lord Byron and Rudyard Kipling unravel the character of the thoroughbred cigar lover: dreamy, melancholy, subtly ironical and often funny. This concert marks the launching of Huelgas’ CD with the same title, presenting cigar-related music from the 15th to the 20th century. After the concert you can relax in the exclusive cigar bar!

i.c.w. De Roma, Sony & Huis Verloo

Please note: This concert starts at 20h30 and takes place in De Roma (Borgerhout).

28 April, 2011 18:30 -- De Roma

Saturday 7 May at AMUZ
6 a.m.: taking numbers & breakfast bar
9 a.m.: start presale (exclusively at the AMUZ tickets desk)
10 a.m.: presentation of the new concert season
5 p.m.: end

07 May, 2011 04:00 -- AMUZ

Eight musicians assemble on a playing area at the center of the hall. Around them are cushions on which babies and toddlers await the concert anxiously. The music starts: sounds from 16th- and 17th-century Portugal reach the impressionable little ears, and a new world opens up. A first adventurous tot ventures among the musicians. Other toddlers follow orclap their hands! Perhaps one or the other will cry, classical music may not be up everybody’s alley after all, or is it nevertheless? While a little danseuse inspires the accordionist to a personal serenade, the saxophone player starts interactive playing with his infant spectators too. The Portuguese hit Concertos para Bebés has already been touring all over Europe and will pay a call on Antwerp for the first time this summer. Be sure to book your reservations early!

Performers
Isabel Catarino, sopraan | Inesa Markava, sopraan | Cristiana Francisco, alt  | Alberto Roque, baritonsaxofoon | José Lopes, altsaxofoon alto sax | Nuno Gonçalves, klarinet | Pedro Santos, accordeon | Paulo Lameiro, bariton & artistieke leiding

20 August, 2011 12:00 -- Theater 't Eilandje

Sluis, 7 January 1430. Philip the Good is about to be married for the third time. His bride-tobe is 32-year-old Isabella of Portugal, whose Joyous Entry is celebrated with a week brimming with jousts and banquets. On the occasion of this prestigious wedding the Order of the Golden Fleece is founded, an exclusive society of knights that is devoted to the grandeur of festivities and banquets. In the 15th century the Burgundian empire was one of the most densely populated and thriving regions of Western Europe. The abundance at the court of Philip and the Portuguese Isabella therefore reached hallucinatory proportions, witness for example a royally equipped music band, the most modern of its era. Capilla Flamenca, More Maiorum and Mezzaluna join forces with a view to evoking the extravagant festivities of this epoch and to shape all this musical variety into a stylish festival opener of Laus Polyphoniae 2011! Couturier Tim Van Steenbergen will take care of a contemporary production design.

Performers
Tim Van Steenbergen, production design | Dirk Snellings & Peter Van Heyghen, artistic direction

20 August, 2011 17:00 -- AMUZ