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03-04-2024:

Unity in Diversity #2

The second edition of the European lute song project Unity in Diversity starts at the end of April. Lutenist Jurgen De bruyn and mandolin virtuoso Alon Sariel will be joined by singers Lore Binon and Elly Aerden, by Vittoria Pagani on the Indian Sarod and by the ney and lavta player Christos Barbas. The creation takes place during LUNALIA, Festival of Flanders Mechelen, and is part of the Mechelen city festival Construct Europe, which coincides with the Belgian presidency of the EU Council. The premiere will be followed by concerts in Hasselt and Dilbeek.

To tune in, you can listen to the podcast made by Evita Nossent, in which the musicians talk about their experiences during the first residency at Laus Polyphoniae Antwerp. They testify about their personal music practice and how they set themselves up for new encounters.

In the words of Alon: “...what we present on stage is the wishful thinking of what could be in Europe in the future, if the European dream actually works”.

Podcast

03-04-2024:

The Mass Man at O. Festival

On 17 May, The Mass Man, a collaboration between Zefiro Torna and Muziektheater Transparant, will be a guest at the O. Festival in Rotterdam.

Director Wouter Van Looy, video artist Wim Catrysse and writer Peter Verhelst base the performance on Elias Canetti's book 'Mass and Power'. The Nobel laureate describes his experiences of mass movements in the early 20th century and mixes them with impressive sociological and anthropological insights. The book not only reads like a reflection on the past, it is also a guide for today.

Soloist singer/performers, instrumentalists on lute, cornetto, trumpet and drums, a sound installation artist and electronic soundscapes give new form and expression to a wide range of subgenres of medieval crusader song. They deliver a nuanced picture of a complex time and turning point in history, marked by changing identities and worldviews.

Trailer

04-02-2024:

22-03-2023:

L’ALQUIMISTA in Barcelona

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.

15-06-2021:

Release documentary PAST >| ORALE


As an introduction to the performance PAST >I ORALE Zefiro Torna asked film maker Mathias Ruelle to create a short documentary. Through the eyes of five characters, this film highlights a few elementary parts from which the performance originated. The music of PAST >I ORALE - a wonderful mix of Beethoven, sound art and alternative pop - resonates as a soundtrack.

> Watch the documentary here (from June 15th until July 13th)

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Lassus Grand Cru

— Musical wine tasting (2017)

Zefiro Torna - Stefaan Degand

The masterful renaissance composer Orlandus Lassus performed all contemporary 16th-century music genres with similar easy and lucidity. Apart from writing impressive spiritual works such as masses, passions and motets, he also applied himself to more popular genres. During Mons 2015, European Capital of Culture, that had an important focus on Lassus, the idea of organising a Lassus Pub Crawl arose. Amateur choirs from numerous European cities gathered around Orlandus Lassus’ repertoire of French chansons, Italian villanelles and German drinking songs. Together they took the audience on a musical journey with short concerts in the setting of cafés and taverns.

From this repertoire, lute player and artistic director Jurgen De bruyn compiled an elysian program for professional vocalists and instrumentalists. The French chansons touches all aspects of the soul: sometimes with poetry from the Pléiade, at times scabrous, vulgar or even explicitly erotic. The Italian villanelles and nonsensical moresche are colourful dancing songs that are easy on the ear, and also the German täpfrige drinking songs, referring in their texts to the profusely flowing wine and beer, are an essential ingredient of the evening.

The program forms a heavenly match with an exquisite selection of wines that can be tasted during the performance. The wines have been selected by a skilled wine expert, inspired by Lassus’s European home grounds and the songs’ specific characteristics. Counter tenor and certified oenophile Steve Dugardin and actor Stefaan Degand entertain the audience with delightful bits of trivia about Lassus’s life.

“A feast for all senses” Rhein-Neckar Zeitung, 23.04.2018

  • Cécile Kempenaers soprano
  • Steve Dugardin counter tenor & maître de cérémonie
  • Jan Van Elsacker tenor
  • Tiemo Wang/Florian Götz bass
  • An Van Laethem/Annelies Decock renaissance violin

  • Dimos de Beun recorder, spinet
  • Philippe Malfeyt lute, colascione
  • Jurgen De bruyn lute, renaissance guitar, artistic direction
  • local actor