Where is Home?

A man steps onto the stage, cello in hand. He looks out into the concert hall, spreads his arms and says, ‘Welcome. Tonight, you are not listeners, but participants. Our meeting is an exchange.’ Then he begins to sing and play, and everything becomes clear. He absorbs the audience’s energy like a human antenna and returns it tenfold. The concert hall shifts into an intimate living room. Everyone who witnessed it walks away transformed. 

This is essentially how a concert by Abel Selaocoe unfolds. Together with this charismatic cellist, singer and composer, we warmly welcome you to the 21st Klarafestival. As a festival artist, Selaocoe will play three concerts spanning the full spectrum of his musical world. From traditional music from his native South Africa to baroque, jazz, contemporary classical and improvisation: he melds all these influences into a unique body of work, centred on identity and cultural exchange.

The theme of this year's festival is taken from the debut album of Selaocoe’s own Bantu Ensemble: Where Is Home? It is an open question with endless answers – especially in the super-diverse city of Brussels, home to 180 nationalities and 100 languages. Our capital is a crossroads, a refuge, a temporary or permanent home for countless individuals, each carrying their own story. Every day, we feel privileged that our festival can take root in such fertile soil.

Abel Selaocoe

Abel Selaocoe’s musical home has many rooms, with all windows and doors wide open. The South African cellist and composer grew up in a township south of Johannesburg, where traditional music filled the air. When he began playing the cello, his mother wove hymns around the baroque suites in which he loved to lose himself. For him, music became a boundless game. With that panoramic outlook, he drew attention when, at seventeen, he went to study in Manchester, the city that became his new home. 

Today, Selaocoe travels the world, performing in prestigious concert halls as well as at cutting-edge festivals. As both a performer and a creator, he engages in a dialogue with African and classical traditions. In doing so, he follows the compass of improvisation, constantly seeking new paths from the voice to the cello and back again. He shares this intuitive experience with his audience in complete openness. Anyone who has witnessed one of his electrifying concerts knows that, for him, the meaning of music reaches far beyond the notes. His compositions transcend genre, time and culture. They speak of identity and home, of origin and connection, in the spirit of the ubuntu philosophy: “You are because I am; I am because you are.”

As a festival artist, Abel Selaocoe will play three concerts during the Klarafestival 2026. With his colleagues from the Bantu Ensemble, he will leaf through their rich repertoire. With percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger, soprano Héloïse Werner and pianist Fabian Fiorini, he will improvise at the intersection of musical worlds. And with Brussels Philharmonic he will perform as a soloist in a new cello concerto by Jessie Montgomery. This three-part portrait reveals a narrator who is as versatile as he is charismatic, proving that music can heal.