The Sound of Music

My good friend Kristel and I had tickets to see the musical The Sound of Music at the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp yesterday afternoon.  The magic started on the train ride - big fat snowflakes started to fall from the sky and the closer we got to Antwerp the fatter and thicker the snow became, which made for a beautiful sight as we walked out of the station and made our way through the busy shopping streets towards the theater for the afternoon performance.

I have always loved several of the songs from The Sound of Music. However, I was a bit apprehensive about hearing them in Dutch instead of English, afraid it would spoil my enjoyment somehow.  But as the show started with the nuns wondering what they were going to do with Maria, I quickly got used to the translated lyrics as the familiar melodies swept the story along.

One of the main reasons we bought tickets was the fact that Kristel is a huge fan of radio and television personality Kurt Rogiers, who played Captain Von Trapp, and did a fine job in the role.  Although he is not a professional singer, he has clearly worked hard on his technique. His fragile rendition of "Edelweiss" at the end of the show added an extra emotional layer to that moment in the story that would have been absent had every note been perfect.  The rest of the cast was excellent, and I especially enjoyed the dancing performed by the characters Liesl (played by Lotte Stevens) and Rolf (played by Martijn Vogel) during their duet in the garden - a mash up of Viennese waltzing, ballet, and jazz dance that had me thinking of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.  Charlotte Campion, despite her tiny stature, was an enthusiastic and believable Maria, and Maaike Widdershoven, as the head nun, sang an amazing version of "Climb Every Mountain".

All in all, it was a fine production, and a wonderful way to spend a snowy winter afternoon.

Clivia

Every December for the past four years, my husband and I have celebrated our anniversary with tickets to the Brussels Operette Theater's performance here in Leuven.   It's always an enjoyable evening because the company puts on light opera and intends to entertain.  We often find ourselves laughing out loud, but at the same time the singing and the orchestra are of high quality, and the production is well done.

This year's performance was "Clivia", a 1933 operette by Austrian composer Nico Dostal  The influence of 1930s Berlin is clearly represented in the potpourri of cabaret, popular dance and classical opera.  The story is a typical slapstick filled operette: mistaken identity, political intrigue, star crossed lovers, odd characters, and plenty of song and dance.

An imaginary film crew, including the diva Clivia, and financed by a rich (and scheming to get richer) American, Mr. Potterman, is trying to get into the ficticious country of Boliguay ostensibly to make a movie, but in reality to serve as a cover up for Potterman's plans to overthrow the country.  In order to get the necessary visa to get into the country, Clivia weds a local guacho, who turns out to be the general who leads the Boliguayan government.

Two other notable characters were the journalist from Chicago, Mr. Down, and his Boliguyanan love interest, the leader of the female guard troop, Jola, who had several enjoyable song and dance duets together.

As it has been every year, the theater is full and everyone is enthusiastic, clearly enjoying the show, despite the high level of kitsch.  The absurdity of it all and the sarcastic humor make up for the corniness; and the professionalism and most of all, the enjoyment of the cast and crew do the rest.  We'll be there next year!

Venetia Antiqua Ensemble (Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice)

The week I spent in Venice this September gave me a wonderful opportunity to discover the city and its rich history.  One thing I really wanted to do while I was there was see a performance in the famous La Fenice opera house.  Unfortunately, when I checked for tickets online, only the most expensive seats were still available, and I did not feel like spending hundreds of euros for a ticket.  I was a bit disappointed.

During one of my daily walks exploring the city, I happened to pass by the Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, and noticed a sign announcing a concert of early music by the Venice Music Project in its small church on the Friday evening, my last night in Venice.  On an impulse, I bought myself a ticket (and it was very reasonably priced)!

On the evening, I made sure I got to the little church early and took a seat in the front pew.  The harpsichordist was tuning her instrument before the concert began (see photo).

The Venice Music Project brings music from the 17th and 18th centuries, with original instruments and performance practices.  The evening I attended, they performed pieces by Steffani, Vivaldi, Handel, and Albinoni, some of them sung by American soprano Liesl Odenwaller.  Her rendition of Handel's "Tune Your Harps" was very charming.  It was a lovely concert and a fitting way to end my week in Venice.

Orphée et Eurydice (De Munt, Brussels, June 2014)

I bought tickets to this opera after reading two articles about it in the newspaper, one that ended with the wish that everyone should see this opera, because it was impossible for any opera to be "more real, more pure, and more beautiful" than this production by Romeo Castellucci of Gluck and Berlioz's tragedy.

The production combined the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the real life story of Els, a young woman with Locked-In syndrome in a nursing home outside of Brussels.  Halfway through the opera, when Orpheus descends to the underworld to find Eurydice and bring her home, cloudy livestream images take us literally to Els' beside, where she is listening to the opera along with us, via headphones.  The music of the descent accompanies words on the screen that tell us Els' life story: a happily married young mother of two children, who is suddenly, without reason taken away from all of that by a freak accident: a stroke, whereby she ends up as a Locked-In syndrome patient: awake, aware, but in no way able to move, speak or interact with her environment, trapped in her own body.

It is hard to describe, but the way the production was put together and performed was incredible and the entire experience was very moving.  I'm so grateful I was able to go.

L'Oro d'Italia Photographic Concert

In the context of the Italian presidency of the Council of the European Union, my husband and I attended this event at the BOZAR in Brussels last night.  I had no idea what to expect, as it was billed as a "photographic concert".  It turned out to be an very entertaining tribute to Italian cinema.  The Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra played the music composed for famous Italian movies while still photographs from the production of those movies were projected on a huge screen at the back of the stage.  In between, commentary was provided by well-known Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini.

The best moment of the evening was the only time actual moving picture footage was used, when a short clip of Anna Magnani singing in one of her films was projected, and after a few bars, the live orchestra joined in to accompany her.  It gave me goosebumps.  Magnani, the first Italian woman to win an Oscar, and considered one of the greatest actresses in Italian cinema, died in 1973 - however, for a brief moment, it was as if she had come back to life in a Brussels concert hall.

The evening left me wishing I knew more about Italian movies.  The only things that were familiar to me were the music from Sergio Leone's westerns (famously composed by Ennio Morricone), the theme from Il Postino (composed by Luis Bacalov) and of course, both the movie and the theme song La Vita e Bella (directed by Roberto Benigni and composed by Nicola Piovani).  Of all the films spotlighted in the concert, this was the only one I have actually seen, and in retrospect, it seems quite a shame.

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Linda picked this one, and I had no idea what to expect, but was curious: two young South Korean women who play traditional instruments in a modern way - they were billed as having an affinity for Phillip Glass type minimalist music.  The venue was also a new one for me: the concert was held at the Keizersberg Abbey, which turned out to be a very fitting location.

The music was actually more melodic than I would have expected, given the comparison to minimalist music, but I was actually glad - to me, a melody makes a piece that much more accessible and enjoyable.  It was fascinating watching the two musicians play their very unique instruments (we were lucky enough to nab seats in the first row), in the sober and mystical abbey church.  They played pieces that alternated between on the one hand, quite loud and rhythmic, and on the other, softer and quite contemplative.

Below a video I found of one of the pieces I enjoyed the most, entitled "Passing Rain":





After the concert we had the opportunity to have a glass of abbey beer in the monks' dining room, served by two monks in full attire, which was a first for me!

All in all, an enjoyable and unique evening.

Violent Femmes

 A few months ago, I saw that the Violent Femmes were going to be at the AB in Brussels.  I was tempted to get tickets, but then I wondered if it wouldn't be disappointing seeing them again after a very memorable show in Milwaukee in 1983, or perhaps they wouldn't even play material from the old albums, the ones I loved way back when (yeah, I think I've mentioned I'm old).  So I put it out of my mind.

Until my sister saw them at the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta in May and raved about how great they were, and how they played the entire first album from beginning to end, and how awesome that was.  The only thing I could do at this point was GET TICKETS, right away, and pray, pray, pray pray pray pray, that they were going to do the same kind of show in Brussels.

So with great anticipation I headed into Brussels by train yesterday evening, met my husband, and walked to the AB.  The opening act, surprisingly enough, was the Belgian group Rhythm Junks, whose lead singer and harmonica player, Steven De Bruyn, happens to be the uncle of a boy and girl my kids went to grade school with.  I had never heard the group play before, and they were actually really good, with a unique sound. There were also quite a few people I recognized as fellow parents from our neighborhood.  It sure is a small world sometimes (especially in Belgium).

At 9 pm sharp, Gordon Gano (guitar), Brian Ritchie (bass), Brian Viglione (drums) and John Sparrow (cajon box) simply walked out onto the stage and started right in on the first song  ("Blister in the Sun") off the first album as the crowd went wild and we all sang along loudly to every verse...which continued as they proceeded to play through the entire album, obviously enjoying themselves, and making a crowd of mature fans go wild, including a midlife mosh-pit!    After the ten songs from album one, the show continued with a bunch of songs from their second and third albums and more recent work ("Freak Magnet").  Every song was a blast to hear (as we all continued to sing along, loudly).  And it reminded me of how many hits they actually had, and how many of those songs were an integral part of the soundtrack of my life through high school and college.

The band also included a horn section called Horns of Dilemma for some of the songs like "Black Girls" or "Confessions", where the musicians create a free-form noise jam. Apparently, the line of up of the Horns of Dilemma changes every show, adding local musicians or friends as circumstances allow.  It was neat to see that Steven De Bruyn on harmonica was included in the group, and even got a bit of a solo when the entire band came out to play a wildly arranged version of "Blister in the Sun" as their encore number.

And then, at 10:30 sharp, it was over.  Time to head back to the train station, passing through throngs of people who had just finished watching the end of the England-Uruguay match, seeing proud Uruguayans celebrating in front of the Brussels stock market building, and making our way through crowds of tourists taking selfies on the Grand' Place.  But with the music of the Violent Femmes still reverberating through my mind.  And so happy I took my sister's advice.

Paul Weller (AB Brussels)

My husband is much more of a Paul Weller fan than I am, so when I heard he was coming to the AB in Brussels, I got him tickets for Father's Day. However, I do have a couple of Jam and Style Council tapes (yes, tapes - I'm old) in my collection, so I was also looking forward to the concert. This is my favorite Paul Weller song: He didn't play it in Brussels; he only played one other number that I knew from his Style Council days (My Ever Changing Moods, video below) and the awesome Start from the Jam, but he had me from the minute he walked on stage and started playing to the very end. The Modfather - wow! Very intense, incredible guitarist, great singer. And a silver fox to boot. Here is he is with the band who supported him last night in Brussels (who were great as well): It was hot and sweaty in the AB but I'm really glad we went to Brussels on a muggy, steamy, stormy night to see him!

Jasper Steverlinck - Try-Out Tour

I am a huge fan of Jasper Steverlinck, and most specifically, his voice.  He is an extremely talented songwriter and
musician, but it is his incredible singing that I admire the most.  It's hard to put into words, but hearing him sing always lifts me up somehow.  My husband feels the same way and we've been to see his group, Arid, twice live, and have most of their albums.

So when I saw Jasper was going to be doing a "Try-Out" tour at small venues we were both excited and got tickets right away.  The closest location for us was a small club we had never been to out in the middle of nowhere.

We got there and we surprised to see how small and intimate the venue was - a dark basement-level club no bigger than my own living room, with a small stage set up at the front and a bar at the back.  We grabbed some bar stools and got a spot about 5 feet from the stage.

The only downside to the entire evening was that it took a long time before the concert actually began.  Not being savvy about how small clubs operate, we got there not long after the doors opened (8 pm) and were finally put out of our misery when Jasper finally came out a bit after 10.  The lady next to us had been stressing and looking at her watch for the past two hours, because she was worried about being home too late for her babysitter, but when Jasper began to sing, all was forgiven.

He sang new songs from his upcoming solo album, but also a lot more of the old Arid favorites than I had dared to expect, and most of them with an "unplugged" pared-down arrangement; after all, the only accompaniment was himself on guitar and his excellent pianist Valentijn Elsen.  Several of the new songs sounded great, but it was of course wonderful to hear some songs I really love; I was especially happy to hear "You Are".

What an amazing experience to hear all of this so up-close and in such an intimate setting.  I don't think there were more than 60 people in the room, and Jasper kept us mesmerized for two hours.  Not an easy task with people drinking and chatting at the bar at the back of the room, but he did it.  His stage presence and warm personality as well as lots of eye contact with the audience made everything seem effortless.  I was so captivated I didn't even notice the lady next to me slipping out at some point to relieve her babysitter; it was only at the end I realized there was someone else in her seat.  Wow.

I can't wait til the new album comes out and then hopefully a full tour to support it; we'll definitely go.  But somehow I can't help but thinking that nothing will ever quite compare to the unique evening in Glabbeek last Saturday night.  Thanks, Jasper.

La Bohème

This was a special evening - my friend Catherine loves opera but had never been to a live performance, so it was a big first for her. This production, by the Dutch organization Stichting Internationale Opera Producties, with Italian singers and the choir, ballet and state opera of Plovdiv (Bulgaria) turned out to be very enjoyable.  In spite of the main story line being tragic (poor aspiring writer Rodolfo and seamstress Mimi meet and fall in love, but Mimi contracts tuberculosis, and dies in his arms in the final scene), the producers put the accent on the more light-hearted and comedic aspects, including some slightly creepy clowns, shown in the clip below:

 

Jef Neve Invites (Leuven Jazz Festival)

Jef Neve

 For the second year now, we're lucky enough to have a proper jazz festival right here in town, and as soon as I heard what the opening concert was going to be this year, I got online and bought three tickets (second row and right in the middle).  I'm glad I was quick about it, as the entire theater was filled to the rafters for the incredible and amazingly talented Jef Neve and the four artists he had invited for the evening.


My two oldest boys came with me.  I had seen Jef perform here in Leuven three other times and my middle son had been with me for one of them, and he was excited to see him again.  My oldest had never been, and I was excited for him.  Jef is not only an incredibly talented pianist and composer but quite simply a wonderful entertainer.  I love the
rapport he creates with the audience, his tapping feet, joyous smile and twinkling eyes that show how much he enjoys what he is doing.  Seeing him perform always makes me happy.


As it turns out, it was a new experience for all of us, because of the other musicians Jef chose to play with him: bassist Ruben Samama from the Netherlands (who also plays bass in his trio), saxophonist Mr Saxman Koh from Thailand, accordeonist Richard Galliano from France, and percussionist Dre Pallemaerts from Belgium.

Mr. "Saxman" Koh

The concert started with each artist performing a solo, and then ended with the five performing pieces composed by Jef, Galliano and Koh as an ensemble.  It was fun to see them get in the groove together - they were all obviously having a great time, and it was a very special night for Koh: his first ever performance in Belgium, with the Ambassador of Thailand in attendance.

Ruben Samama

Of all the solo pieces I was blown away by the performance by Ruben Samama.  With his bass, some small percussion instruments, his voice and a sampler recorder, he created an otherworldly and completely mesmerizing atmosphere.  I can't really describe it but I loved it.



I found this video where he explains a piece he wrote for the Jef Neve Trio and it kind of gives a feel for what I mean about his solo; the whole idea of being blown away by what is happening with the music in the moment.  That is exactly how it felt.  Wow.

Rosas - Partita 2

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't have very much exposure to modern dance.  But I know enough about the dance scene in Belgium to be aware of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her impact on modern

dance, not only here in Belgium, but internationally.  De Keersmaeker is a world renowned dancer and choreographer and the woman around whom the Rosas dance company is centered.  And when I saw that she would be performing herself in this Rosas production in Leuven, I convinced Linda that we should include tickets to this in our annual culture subscription.

I am very glad I had already seen a Rosas production (see my post on Vortex Temporum below) because I already had a little bit of an idea of what to expect.  The performance began in pitch black with violinist George Alexander Van Dam playing Bach's Partita 2.  Then, the lights came back on to a bare stage and two dancers, De Keersmaeker and Boris Charmatz, who danced the entire choreography in silence, except for the occasional squeak of their gym shoes on the floor and a few unintelligible vocalizations.  Finally, Van Dam rejoined them, and the two pieces were joined together: the music and the dance.

I really enjoyed it.  I especially loved the choreography pictured (right) where one of the dancers was lying on the ground but following the footsteps of the other dancer as if he/she were the other person's shadow.  There was a beautiful movement they made to exchange places by grasping hands and letting the weight of the one person pull the other up.  You can get a bit of a feel for it, as well as hear an excerpt of the music, in this video:

As in the performance of Vortex Temporum, I enjoyed the running and jumping movements, the simple, athletic costumes and the bright gym shoes they wore.  But most of all, I loved the interface with the music, the interaction with the musician, and the way watching the movements on stage took me to a completely different planet for an hour.

I Muvrini

I went with Linda and her husband Luc to see I Muvrini last night in Hasselt. Linda and Luc are big fans and seemingly everyone else in Hasselt because the group got three standing ovations and everyone was singing along to the songs!  I Muvrini is a Corsican folk group who sing most of their songs in the traditional Corsican language, Corsu.  Wiki has this about Corsu:

 Corsican (corsu or lingua corsa) is an Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica (France) and northern Sardinia (Italy). Corsican was long the vernacular language alongside Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859: afterwards Italian was replaced by French, owing to the acquisition of the island by France from Genoa in 1768. Over the next two centuries, the use of French grew to the extent that, by the Liberation in 1945, all islanders had a working knowledge of French. The twentieth century saw a wholesale language shift, with islanders changing their language practices to the extent that there were no monolingual Corsican speakers left by the 1960s. By 1990, an estimated 50% of islanders had some degree of proficiency in Corsican, and a small minority, perhaps 10%, used Corsican as a first language.

 

Very interesting - and I can see why people in Flanders are so enthusiastic about this group because they share a common bond through being/having been a minority language.

I Muvrini is also very socially and environmentally active, supporting through their songs and activism projects in nonviolence, ecology, and minority culture and language preservation, not just in Corsica but all over the world.  This adds an extra dimension to the concert as many of their lyrics are translated and projected on the screen behind the musicians so you can really understand the causes they support.

Many of the songs were lovely and the singing was impressive, but on the whole it was a bit too "Enya" for me to become a huge fan like so many of the people around me.  However, I'm very glad I went and I really enjoyed seeing all the enthusiasm!

Wim Helsen - Spijtig, spijtig, spijtig

Went with my youngest son to see this show by one of our favorite Flemish comedians, Wim Helsen, master in absurd comedy with a twist of melancholy.  And just about the only person I know who can fill an entire 90 minute show with a story about standing in line waiting to pee in the bathroom of a bar.  I love the way he takes us into his own universe, how he gets sidetracked but always, always comes back to the very human situation of feeling awkward and misunderstood, and the hilarious ways he (or rather the character he plays) tries to compensate for it, some of his ways more recognizable to the rest of us than others.  Respect!  And I have always loved his voice and cheeky smile, from back in the day when he was on Man Bijt Hond with "Vrienden van de poezie" (see video below).  It was a real treat to see him live for the first time, and going by how much my son was cracking up in the seat next to me, I wasn't the only one who felt this way.  Awesome evening out!

Michiel Coxcie - De vergeten Vlaamse Rafael (M Museum Leuven)

Self portrait as St. George

I had a free ticket for this temporary expo in our local art museum.  Even though I don't have much art history baggage, I have always loved learning more about it and a special expo is a good opportunity.

In this case the artist was one of the most influential Flemish painters of the 16th century but is virtually unknown today.  He was one of the first artists from northern Europe to go to Italy and absorb the art of the ancients and the Italian high renaissance, including Michelangelo, with whom he worked, and later bring these influences back to the Low Countries.

One of the works that impressed me the most was this self portrait.  Coxcie was strong defender of Catholicism in times of religious upheaval, and I think this comes through strongly in the way he portrayed himself.

Coxcie died at the age of 93, from a fall while restoring one of his own paintings in Antwerp.

Here is some more info from Wikipedia.

Paulien Cornelisse - "Maar ondertussen"

Linda and I went to see the stand-up comedy show by Dutch comedienne Paulien Cornelisse last week, and we both enjoyed it.  I had seen Cornelisse a few times on the TV show "De Slimste Mens" and thought she was funny in a quirky but low-key fashion, which is what motivated me to pick her stand-up show when we were putting our annual culture subscription together last summer.

This was her third theater show, and it got lots of good reviews in the press, so I had high expectations.

She started out the show by playing the flute solo from "California Dreaming" on a recorder, and then got started with what felt like tales she would share with a good friend, lots of things I could relate to.  She also had a microscope set up on stage, projected with a camera onto a screen, so we could all enjoy her analysis of her own saliva and blood, which I have to admit, was kind of gross.

Other than that, the show was funny without being vulgar, thought-provoking and made for an enjoyable evening.