In the Footsteps of Vesalius – Anatomy of Sound

Inspired by the anatomist Andreas Vesalius, we are developing a performance that brings together technology, music, and history in an interactive and educational experience for all ages. The music, specially composed for this project by Belgian composer Mathias Coppens, enters into dialogue with music from the time of Vesalius, such as works by Cipriaan De Rore and Philippe Verdelot.

The wondrous interconnectedness of the human body lies at the heart of this project. Just as each organ, each fiber, and each movement influences the whole, the audience becomes a living link within the performance: through an interactive app, visitors actively participate in the experience. The result is a unique artistic journey in which science, art, history, and technology enhance one another.

To bring this ambitious creation to life, we need your support. Projects of this scale can only exist thanks to people who believe in the power of art and innovation. Every contribution — large or small — brings us literally one step closer to realization and is received with deep gratitude.

For fundraising, we collaborate with the King Baudouin Foundation. From a donation of €40 or more to our patronage account, you will receive a certificate granting you a tax deduction. This means that your support not only makes a meaningful difference for the project, but also offers you a valuable personal benefit.

more info here

Het bericht Support our new project! verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

From 26/09/2025 to 26/03/2026

A concert-like soundscape exploring death, emptiness, and the life in between. Huang Ruo builds musical bridges between Asia and the West. Stream it now!

What happens between a life that ends and whatever comes after? Is there an in-between space – a moment when we are no longer who we were, but not yet who we will become?

Between Two Lights is neither narrative music theatre nor a traditional concert. It is a physical listening experience – a journey to the edge of existence and back. Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo rooted this work in the Heart Sutra, a Buddhist text where emptiness and form dissolve into one another. Not abstract mysticism, but a guide to what touches us all: the elusive moment between farewell and beginning.

Do we dare to face the moment when everything falls silent? The not-knowing. The emptiness. That which binds us all, but is rarely spoken of.

Credits

Concept | Composition | Libretto | Conductor • Huang Ruo
Choir • Nederlands Kamerkoor
Percussion • HERMESensemble
Performer • Grace Ellen Barkey
Staging • Aïda Gabriëls / Tido Visser
Assistant Director • Matteo Carazza
Lighting Design • Peter Quasters
Live Video • Lise Bruyneel
Interview Videography • Mirjam Devriendt
Artistic Advice for Interviews • Barbara Raes
Dramaturgical Advice • Shuang Zou

Het bericht Watch Between Two Lights again on Opera Vision verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

JOB DESCRIPTION

HERMESensemble is looking for an enterprising and versatile coordinator responsible for artistic planning, practical and production follow-up of the ensemble’s activities. As a coordinator, you will work closely with the artistic and business leadership to ensure the smooth organizational and logistical flow of productions and rehearsals. Additionally, you will support the ensemble in communication, promotion, and distribution of its projects. You are both a meticulous planner and a bridge-builder between musicians, partners, and the team. You play a key role in the daily operations of the ensemble and seamlessly switch between content, organization, and strategy.

TASK PACKAGE
Artistic Planning
– Coordinating contacts with musicians, artistic partners, technicians, and venues.
– Assisting in drafting subsidy applications and their administrative follow-up.

– **Production**
– Managing sheet music and logistics for productions.
– Preparing technical sheets and schedules for venues, presenting partners, and technical staff.
– Drafting contracts and making practical arrangements with musicians regarding rehearsal schedules and concerts.
– Organizing logistics for activities such as transport, accommodation, and instruments.

Communication, Promotion, and Distribution
– Prospecting and following up on performance opportunities with concert organizations, festivals, and cultural institutions in Flanders and internationally.
– Managing communication channels (website, social media, newsletter, press).
– Editing press releases, project texts, and artistic dossiers.

PROFILE
– Master’s degree in music, musicology, or a comparable cultural-artistic field.
– Strong affinity with contemporary music and/or interdisciplinary art.
– Fluent oral and written communication in Dutch, with knowledge of English and/or French.
– Independent, proactive, and creative in finding solutions.
– Strong organizational insight and attention to detail and planning.
– High sense of responsibility.
– Skilled in establishing and maintaining contacts in the cultural sector.
– Knowledge of digital tools such as WordPress, Mailchimp, Canva, and social media.
– Experience in artistic project management (production), communication, or production in the cultural sector is a plus but not a strict requirement. Starters are also encouraged to apply.

OFFER
– An inspiring work environment where your ideas and network have a direct impact.
– A versatile and challenging role with room for initiative and creativity.
– Flexible working hours with the possibility of remote work, supplemented by attendance at rehearsals, productions, and concerts.
– Collaboration with a passionate team of musicians, creators, and partners.
– Employment (60% to 100%) to be discussed based on experience and availability.
– Freelance or salaried employment according to PC304 scales.

Application
Send your CV and motivation letter by June 1, 2025, to bianca.vanroosbroeck@hermesensemble.be.

More information about the ensemble can be found at www.hermesensemble.be or +32 498 27 73 43 (Bianca Van Roosbroeck).

Het bericht VACANCY: Coordinator of Artistic Planning, Communication, and Distribution (m/f/x) verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Het bericht This was 2024 verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Rhapsody for alto horn in E-flat and piano (Opus 76) by pianist, composer and key member of HERMESensemble Geert Callaert has now been officially published by the prestigious Hofmeister Musikverlag in Leipzig. This work, composed in 2007 for alto horn virtuoso Tim De Maeseneer and created at Bozar by the two of them on 13 January 2008, is an intriguing addition to the contemporary chamber music and alto horn repertoire.

The Rhapsody offers a unique synthesis of the brilliant sound and flexibility of the alto horn with the rich, spectral sound possibilities of the piano. The result is a new, innovative dialogue between the two instruments. The composition shows the influence of classical rhapsodic traditions such as those of Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms, combined with a modernist aesthetic and a playful reference to Debussy’s Première Rhapsody.

With a virtuoso piano part and solo cadences for both instruments, Callaert explores new tonalities, modalities and sophisticated sound direction via pedals and articulation in the piano. The unexpected sound contrasts and the playful, almost improvisational structure make this composition both technically challenging and expressively powerful.

The publication by Hofmeister Musikverlag highlights the artistic value of Callaerts’ work and offers musicians an extraordinary opportunity to discover this challenging and expressive piece.

Geert Callaerts’ orchestration of Curt Wallner’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra, of which only the piano reduction remained, is now also available through Hofmeister Musikverlag Leipzig. He wrote this orchestration at the request of Aykut Durşen, solo double bass of the orchestra of Opera Ballet Flanders, who created it on 18 October 2024 in Antalya (Turkey) with the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Julio García Vico.

Find more information on the Hofmeister Musikverlag Leipzig website.

New work premiered

Callaert will also release two new compositions to the public very soon:

• 20 December 2024, 8pm, Zoerla, Gevaertlaan 1, Zoerle-Parwijs: Concerto for Violin and Fanfare ‘Abya Yala’, performed by the brass band Brass-aux-Saxes conducted by Jan Van Hove, with Antoine Maisonhaute as violin soloist. The concert is part of the theme concert ‘American Connections’. More info: Brass-aux-Saxes.
• 21 December 2024, 8pm, Kultuurschuur, Kapel van het Scheppersinstituut, Cooppallaan 128, Wetteren (Overschelde): world creation Trio for flute, violin and piano Cesar Franck/Geert Callaert, a contrapuntal recomposition of Cesar Franck’s violin sonata, rewritten for flute, violin and piano by Geert Callaert. Performers are Trio Localeux: Femke Van Leuven (flute), Maximilian Lohse (violin) and Geert Callaert (piano). More info: Kultuurschuur.

Het bericht New publications & compositions by Geert Callaert verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

On 28 November 2024, Klein Verhaal and HERMESensemble will perform a renewed version of Ensoriades at the beautiful Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA). This special performance will be presented twice: at 7pm and again at 8.30pm.

The original version of the Ensoriades premiered earlier in Ostend as part of Mu.ZEE’s exhibition Rose, Rose, Rose à mes yeux. Now, on the occasion of the Ensor exhibition Ensor’s Wildest Dreams at KMSKA, we bring a new interpretation to the museum’s first floor.

This version makes the link between Ensor’s unique world and the paintings of the first floor, including such works as Strelingen van licht, Les Dunes Immaculées, Parody Wagner and Coquillage. The result is a series of 12 songs, created by both groups of musicians, combined with a walking experience along the master’s sublime paintings.

As Ensor himself said, ‘For life!…. And for struggle.”

Het bericht ENSORIADES verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Hoe klinkt de toekomst? Laat het ons horen! Stuur jouw partituur in, en wie weet wordt jouw werk geselecteerd voor een uitvoering tijdens het slotconcert op 4 mei in AMUZ. Daarnaast krijg je professionele begeleiding van ervaren componisten en muzikanten van HERMESensemble om je compositie tot in de puntjes uit te werken.

📅 Inschrijven kan tot 1 februari 2025.
📅 Deadline partituur: 10 maart 2025.
📍 Slotconcert: 4 mei 2025 in AMUZ, Antwerpen.

Voorwaarden, inschrijvingsformulier en meer informatie vind je op thetimes.hermesensemble.be.

The Times wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt dankzij De Veerman, Matrix – Centrum voor Nieuwe Muziek, Amuz, Musical Impulscentrum en Sabam For Culture.

Het bericht Gezocht: jonge componisten voor The Times verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Between 21 November 2024 and 1 June 2025, Henri D’Ursel’s La Perle with Mireille Capelle’s soundtrack will be part of the exhibition Paris, Capitale de la Perle organised by the prestigious L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts in Paris.

At the request of the Royal Belgian Film Archive, Mireille Capelle was one of seven composers asked to write a soundtrack to a series of Belgian early surrealist films. The set was published as a boxset with music performed by the HERMESensemble and an introductory text by Xavier Canonne.

Mireille Capelle comments on this assignment:

‘When the Royal Belgian Film Archive (Cinematek) proposed to have the HERMESensemble compose the music for some of the black-and-white films that were screened and they entrusted me with ‘La Perle’, I was immediately seduced by the story, the characters, the melancholy too, the images and the narrative of this string of pearls that I think express our aspirations, our dreams, our mirages, our unconscious. It’s a fascinating film.’

Count Henri d’Ursel (1900-1974) lived in Paris in the 1920s, where he was in contact with the surrealists and avant-garde filmmakers. He was an extra in Man Ray’s film Les Mystères du château de Dé (1929). La Perle is d’Ursel’s only film that he shot that same year under the pseudonym Henri d’Arche after a screenplay by French poet George Hugnet. The hero, played by Hugnet, buys a string of pearls for his beloved, but loses it again and again in a series of strange encounters and bizarre transitions between city and nature.

Mireille Capelle’s composition for La Perle is in line with her practice of sonorous architectural compositions, of which she has realised 17 so far. For this, the starting point can be very diverse: an art form, certain objects or shapes, a certain time period. For example, for all the exhibitions in Palazzo Fortuny in Venezia by Axel Vervoordt or the composition around the carpet La Dame à la Licorne (2021). It always involves an intensely concentrated working method in which the end result can be compared to the creation of a layered perfume. In the case of La Perle, Mireille Capelle was concerned with turning the subtleties of the film, including the wonderment around and repeated touching of the string of pearls, into sound. Working with Jean-Marc Sullon as musical assistant for editing and mixing, accidental discoveries emerged that contributed to the final sound atmosphere.

Edith Doove, curator

Het bericht La Perle verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Nemø ensemble was founded in September 2017 and performs contemporary, experimental music. The collective aims to connect existing repertoire with new pieces by young artists that are not afraid of crossing boundaries between different genres and artistic disciplines. The group challenges the conventional concert format by exploring different forms of presentation. This gives rise to immersive performances that overcome the distance between those who listen and those who perform.

For Nemø, art means bringing people together in a context outside the rush of everyday life. Each show is conceived as an “intensified context” for the audience to fully engage in the material moment of the now. Therefore, Nemø ensemble not only acts as a performer but also as a curator that frames music. In collaboration with other artists, they search to play with light, space and movement in their overarching performances

Het bericht Nemø ensemble verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.

Het bericht Vision & code of conduct verscheen eerst op HERMESensemble.