Calendar

News

15-11-2022:

The Mass Man in Amsterdam

De Theaterkrant describes The Mass Man as "intriguing musical meditation on mass, power and manipulation".
The full review is available on the website.

11-08-2022:

MAfestival - PREMIERE

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.

20-05-2022:

CD release Time Crawls

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.

30-08-2021:

BALSAM on tour


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

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)

newsletter

Select how you want to stay informed about the activities of Zefiro Torna:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the 'unsubscribe link' in the footer of every email you receive from us, or by contacting us at info@zefirotorna.be We will treat your information with respect. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your data in accordance with our privacy conditions.

Les Champions des Dames

— Music from the time of the Flemish Primitives (2011)

Zefiro Torna

The love poem "Le champion des dames", written in 1441-42 by poet Martin le Franc for Philip the Good, depicts the composers Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois together. Inspired by the innovating English style of John Dunstable, these composers break with the complex 'ars subtilior' style. Driven by their love of Florentine women, classical themes and humanism, they write diamonds of musical illumination, bridging middle ages and renaissance, that are widely praised at the Burgundy court.

The program ‘Les Champions des Dames’ is conceived as a triptique: ‘Adoring the female beauty’ which an anonymous poet describes as ‘blans, blond, tout par mesure’ (pale, blond and well proportioned). ‘The loss of a loved one’, in which verses by Christine de Pizan’s ballade ‘Deuil Angoisseus’ are beautifully set to music by Binchois. The final part brings ‘Hope for the new year’ and ‘joye sans fin’ (infinite joy)!

  • Lieselot De Wilde soprano
  • Dimos De Beun clavecymbalum, recorders
  • Jurgen De bruyn lute, voice, artistic direction