Next week we will begin the rehearsals for music theater performance L'ALQUIMISTA in Barcelona, at the Teatro Nacional de Catalunya. Michael De Cock created and directs a theatre adaptation of the book The Abyss by Belgian writer Marguerite Yourcenar. Lutenist Jurgen De bruyn joins the stage and, together with composer Alain Franco, provides the soundtrack for the story, which is set in 16th-century Europe with a focus on the last years of the Bruges doctor and alchemist Zeno and on universal themes of humanity and freedom in turbulent times.
The premiere will take place on the 11th of May 2023. The tickets are on sale vie TNC.
De Theaterkrant describes The Mass Man as "intriguing musical meditation on mass, power and manipulation".
The full review is available on the website.
We had the pleasure of showing THE MASS MAN to a sold out audience in Concertgebouw Brugge. Prior to the performance, Muziektheater Transparant director Wouter Van Looy and artistic director of Zefiro Torna Jurgen De bruyn shared their thoughts with the audience. They explained how Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti and his masterly book on the themes of mass and power, medieval crusader songs and film images by Wim Catrysse form the raw material for a gripping music theatre performance.
Theatre critic Johan Thielemans wrote an engaging review.
The CD TIME CRAWLS is out on the label HOMERECORDS.BE and also available on our webshop (> CD).
Zefiro Torna takes us into a timeless universe with a reinterpretation of the 17th century broken consort music. Melodies intuitively created by flute player Jowan Merckx received a new arrangement for flute, violin, viola da gamba, violone, harp and lute by composers Marnix De Cat and Martin Valcke. The new written music bears traces of baroque and traditional music from all over Europe. The music, which is sometime melancholic, sometimes nimble and festive, fascinates by its ingeniously crafted texture and invites to dance.
This autumn, the alchemistic laboratory BALSAM with Laika, Theatre of the Senses will be on tour again. After two series of performances at the Boulevard Festival in Den Bosch and Cultura Nova in Heerlen in August, the team is ready for it! Prepare yourself for a bewitching ritual in which music, scents and flavours immerse you in the shimmering world of alchemy. Besides the Greenwich+Docks International Festival in London and a tour to Portugal and France, BALSAM also passes by a number of Belgian venues.
--> Take a look in the agenda for all dates
Jurgen De bruyn – Tom Hannes – Mauro Pawlowski – Timo Van Luijk
Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Hermit Saints Triptych’ owes its name to the three hermits that it depicts. In the centre of the painting holding a crucifix, sits Saint Jerome who appears to be in deep meditation. Behind him, on the left panel, Saint Anthony is portrayed in a dark and burning landscape, being assailed by demons. The right panel in front of him shows Saint Giles praying, flanked by a doe in an almost idyllic scene. Jerome seems to be suspended in a moment between the darkness of insanity and serene lucidity. Is this the place of humankind? Between heaven and hell? How do they resist such a tension without crumbling? How do they flourish in the desert, staring at an icon whose meaning on some occasion is unclear?
Theatre maker, performer and Zen priest Tom Hannes will attempt to formulate a philosophical and poetic answer, collaborating with artistic nomads Jurgen De bruyn and Mauro Pawlowski. Departing from their personal universe and musical background, the enigmatic content of the triptych receives a special adaptation that comes to life in the auditory landscape created by artist Timo Van Luijk.
Word art mixes in with Byzantine ritual chants, baroque lute sounds, avant-garde guitar, soundscapes and electronics, inspired by the music from the Gruuthuse Ms and composers as Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger, Nicolo Bononi, Léo Ferré and Mauro Pawlowski. Divine, mystically charming, scratching, whipping, wailing or ecstatic sounds and dazzling silences make room for new visions.
Gazet van Antwerpen 04.11.2016