Lennart Heyndels Quartet

A very warm welcome to Klarafestival!

Flanders Festival Brussels, Klara and our partners are delighted to greet you once again. “I believe audiences aren’t just listening. They are actively contributing”, festival artist Barbara Hannigan remarked in an interview. Concerts are an interaction between the audience, artists and anyone who is contributing to those magic moments in front of or behind the scenes. Together we ‘become’ music. 

As a conductor and soprano, Hannigan is a global reference point. With her, classical music becomes a contemporary and unique experience. This is an inspiration to Klarafestival as the largest broadcast festival in Belgium. Her versatile talent is sure to enrapture you, as is that of the many Belgian and international artists who connect past and present with musical stories.

Klarafestival opens in style with Hannigan as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. After that, you will hear and see her with young musicians from her mentorship project Equilibrium Young Artists. In no fewer than 25 concerts, we present top talent including Les Talens Lyriques, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Vilde Frang, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with Víkingur Ólafsson. Klarafestival also treasures creation. The film concert Reich/Richter as a symbiosis of Gerhard Richter’s paintings and the music of Steve Reich; the creation Counterforces by composer Frederik Croene to text by poet Dominique de Groen; and the music theatre production Prey by Kris Verdonck with a composition by Annelies Van Parys will surprise you!

This and all other concerts are possible thanks to the collaboration with our cultural partners: Bozar, Flagey, Kaaitheater, Théâtre Varia, Muntpunt, Concertgebouw Brugge and DE SINGEL. Thanks to our private partners KPMG, Proximus, Brewery Omer Vander Ghinste, Belfius, Interparking and the players of Belgium’s National Lottery. We are grateful for the support of the Flemish Community and the Brussels Capital Region. And finally, thanks to Klara and VRT: there would be no broadcast festival without their valued collaboration.

Joost Fonteyne

Intendant Klarafestival

Codex Au Soleil : Medieval Ars Subtilior interpreted by contemporary jazz artists. 

A conversation with Lennart Heyndels.

Contemporary jazz artists reinterpreting centuries-old music: where did the idea come from?

I have long been fascinated by the music of the Ars Subtilior and had been toying with the idea of doing something with it for some time. I thought it would be a very interesting challenge to tackle this repertoire with a group of jazz musicians and see what would emerge from it. Most of our contemporary music is harmonically and melodically based on classical music. By going further back in time, you get to deal with a very different kind of musical matter, which makes this music extra special.

The 'Ars subtilior' is a musical movement that emerged at the end of the 14th century and centered on experimentation. Why is the experimental component so important in your work?

For me, experimentation is inherent to being a musician. I love the unexpected and taking certain musical idioms out of context. For me, experimental music is about playing with patterns of expectation and coming up with and creating something you haven't heard before. Not for the sake of anarchy or innovation, but out of enthusiasm, asking the question "what if?”. What if we combined polyphonic medieval music with contemporary improvisation and electronics?

Much of the Ars Subtilior music is very experimental in a similarly playful way. You can sense that those composers were trying to break free from a fixed framework and explore the limits of the notation system of the time, for instance, by using different colours to notate different rhythmic modulations, or by creating scores in the shape of a heart.

The works in Ars Subtilior were originally composed for the voice, but you have chosen to use only instruments.

Voice immediately draw a lot of attention since it is such a pure instrument, one that everyone has! The Ars Subtilior, on the other hand, is very ambiguous and focuses more on the collective than the individual. Consequently, there is often no single melody. Instead, you have a kind of polyphonic weave in which the different melodies intertwine, which makes it sound a bit like minimalist music or ambient at times. In a way it sounds very static, but there is constant change in it. I thought it would be interesting to perform this music purely instrumentally to highlight that side. 

How was the quartet put together around this project?

The three musicians I asked for this project are all musicians who inspire me enormously. They are musicians who can handle complex written music as well as free improvisation. Joachim Badenhorst is someone I have long wanted to ask for a project, because he is such an inspiring musician I have been following for a long time. For this concert, he will be replaced by Sam Comerford. It's not easy to replace Joachim, but Sam is such an amazing musician. He couples an insane mastery of his instrument with an extremely tasteful musical sensibility, which makes him the perfect person to complete the group at Klarafestival. I play with George Dumitriu in the Kaja Draksler Octet and he is capable of playing tastefully any kind of music. It was also important for me to add some percussion. Originally, there are no percussion instruments in the Ars Subtilior, although this genre can be very complex from a rhythmic point of view. Stijn Cools has the ability to bring out these polyrhythmic qualities as well as the different sound textures.

How did the creation process go?

We worked on this project during two residencies at DE SINGEL and tried out many different things. I had brought a lot of material including scores from the Chantilly Codex, arrangements based on parts of those compositions and my own compositions inspired by that music. Together we gradually created a sound universe in which we could interpret this musical material, leaving room for freedom and improvisation. The original idea was to create a purely acoustic album, but Stijn and I progressively added electronics, giving us access to a wider sound palette. On the album and during live performances, field recordings, processed drums and modular synthesizer sounds are therefore mixed with acoustic instruments.

You also keep room for improvisation. Why?

For me, improvisation is an essential part of making music, and of life actually. It requires a state of alertness to sense the moment and intuitively know what the music needs at that specific moment. It's almost like a kind of meditation, but with several people linked together at the same time. It was therefore clear from the start that there would be some kind of unscripted music involved. I think that we have succeeded in creating a framework in which the medieval score makes sense, while leaving enough freedom to add our own touch.

Where does the name Codex au Soleil come from?

The aim of the project is to revive age-old scores and demonstrate their contemporary relevance. We are taking the music out of the dust and bringing it back into the light of day. The title also refers to Johannes Ciconia's famous piece Ars Subtilior, Le Ray Au Soleyl.

What can the audience expect from this performance?

The audience can expect an eclectic concert. Medieval counterpoint is interspersed with jazz improvisations and electronic textures. These elements fit perfectly  together to show how close this music is in essence. Those who come to this concert with an open mind will experience a beautiful journey!

Interview by Lisanne Verhaegen

Lennart Heyndels, double bass

Belgian bassist, synthesist and composer Lennart Heyndels (°1990) performs in a wide variety of musical settings. Besides his solo work for modular synthesisers and electronics, he is also one half of the experimental pop duo Hi Hawaii and bassist in a number of internationally renowned ensembles such as Ben Sluijs Quartet, Kaja Draksler Octet, Alex Koo Trio and Les Chroniques de l'Inutile. His music is characterised by a fluid blend of styles, striking a balance between simplicity, serene introspection and a groundbreaking quest.

Sam Comerford, saxophone

Composer and musician Sam Comerford grew up in Dublin and moved to Belgium to study jazz saxophone at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB). Besides his own musical activities, he participates in several projects that blend jazz and improvisation with Irish music. In 2015, his Brussels-based trio Thunderblender was awarded the Toots Thielemans Award.

George Dumitriu, viola

George Dumitriu is a multi-instrumentalist, performer and composer, active on the international scene of jazz, improvised music, contemporary classical, and musical theatre. He is known for his masterful technique on viola, violin and guitar, and for his unique approach to electronics in his live performances. His musical career began with classical training, which later evolved into jazz improvisation. Dimitriu has collaborated with artists such as Ambrose Akinmusire, Kaja Draksler, Theo Loevendie, Michel Godard, Ab Baars, Joachim Badenhorst and Michael Moore.

Stijn Cools, drums

Drummer Stijn Cools studied at the Brussels Conservatory, where he was taught by Stéphane Galland. In 2010 he was awarded the Toots Thielemans Prize. Besides his passion for drums, he likes to experiment with percussion instruments such as the udu. Cools stands out for his experiments with combining jazz and electronic music. Stijn can be found in many different formations, as well as alongside his brother, guitarist Bert Cools.