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

Tradition Meets Innovation: Adelphi Quartet on rediscovering the string quartet repertoire

You say it’s important that each member adds its own inspiration to the group. Which influences do each of you bring to the quartet?  

As we all have different cultural backgrounds and mother tongues, we each have our own perspective on language. To find our own language in music, we go through a very interesting and enriching process of discussion. We believe that string quartet playing is a never ending dialogue between us. We are four very different individuals, with four very different personalities. Each of us brings his or her own strength to the group, which balances out our weaknesses.

Those influences make you a versatile quartet. During this concert, you play a classical and a contemporary piece. Why do you find it important to explore such a varied repertoire? 

As musicians, it is important to be as open as possible as one can learn from each musical period and style. For example, you can learn a lot from playing baroque music and transfer some of this knowledge into contemporary music. This also works the other way around. We like to bring some contemporary pieces to our concert programs as we believe it is important to be aware of what today’s music sounds like and not only perform  “historical music”. When you think about it, classical musicians were performing music of their time, romantic musicians too and so, we should follow this path and do the same. It also gives the musicians, and the audiences, an opportunity to listen in a different way. By subtly educating ourselves, we become more open listeners.

During this concert, you contrast the uplifting Mozart’s String Quartet No. 14 with the sorrowful Saffron Dusk. Why have you chosen these two pieces?  

We wanted to offer a very varied program. We chose one of our favorite string quartets by Mozart, full of life and positivity. In contrast, Saffron Dusk brings a completely different atmosphere. We find the musical contrast between Bushra's piece and Mozart’s string quartet very interesting in terms of musical language. It really moved us and we feel that it will have the same effect on the audience.

Are there some similarities between these two works?

Of course, they have two very different styles and purposes, but they both share the possibility to improvise. Mozart allows us to interpret his comical dialogue in many different ways to surprise the audience. Saffron Dusk has a different focus and gives us the opportunity to improvise when reacting to atmosphere. We hope the audience likes it!

Mozart’s String Quartet No. 14 is one of the six string quartets Mozart dedicated to Haydn, who is considered the creator of the string quartet. Does this piece have a special meaning to you? 

Mozart’s No. 14 is a quartet we have played many times in the past and that we love to rediscover. It requires a lot of spontaneity and creativity in all its various details. This work brings us a lot of joy during rehearsals and performance, and gives us the opportunity to grow together as a group.

Bushra El-Turk dedicated Saffron Dusk to the hundreds of victims of the bomb explosion in Beirut in 2020. What was it like to work with her on this piece? 

It was a total privilege working with Bushra! It was truly fascinating and we would say, essential! It is always easier to work with the composer when you approach a new contemporary piece as they help you understand the essence of their music. And as a musician, you can help them see what works or what doesn’t work. Although it was a completely different language to what we had played before, Bushra inspired us to find that special atmosphere that Saffron Dusk requires, as well as introducing us to taqsim, which is a form of improvisation in classical Arabic music.

What will you try to convey to the audience during this concert?
We will try to encourage the members of the audience to experience beautiful musical moments, filled with poetry, laughter and heartache, and hopefully, let them enter our quartet world by discovering or re-discovering the wonderful repertoire that string quartet can offer.

Interview by Lisanne Verhaegen

Adelphi Quartet

The Adelphi Quartet, part of the 'Flagey, entre Chien et Loup' program, is a talented ensemble consisting of four European musicians. Founded in 2017, the quartet studied with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Following its success at the Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions, the Adelphi Quartet got selected as the inaugural YCAT Hans Keller Artist, which resulted in the premiere and recording of Saffron Dusk by Bushra El-Turk.

Maxime Michaluk, violin

Maxime Michaluk (Namur, Belgium) honed his skills in Belgium and Salzburg under the tutelage of Igor Tkatchouk, Igor Ozim and Rainer Schmidt. He performed alongside talented musicians like Gilles Millet (Danel Quartet), Clemens Hagen (Hagen Quartet), Wolfgang Redik, William Coleman (Kuss Quartet), and Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet). In addition to his quartet commitments, he also performs as a soloist and chamber musician collaborating with the Hulencourt Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg and the Metamorphoses Orchestra.

Esther Agustí, violin

Esther Agustí (Barcelona, Spain) has been a member of the Adelphi Quartet since 2017. Her performances have taken her to music festivals like the Musika-Musica Festival in Bilbao, the Pau Casals Festival in Prades, and the Harmos Festival in Portugal. Esther Agustí won the First Prize at the XVIII University Competition for Chamber Music in Leipzig. She performed with orchestras like the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Orquestra Sinfònica del Vallès in Barcelona, and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra in Ingolstadt.

Adam Newman, viola

Adam Newman, originally from Liverpool, studied with Philip Dukes and Louise Hopkins in London before advancing his studies with Tatjana Masurenko, Lars Anders Tomter, Claudio Martinez Mehner, and Rainer Schmidt. He performed at various festivals including the Verbier Festival, Mozart Festival Würzburg, Aldeburgh Contemporary Music festival, and Banff Residency. Adam Newman shared the stage with the English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Nepomuk Braun, cello 

Born in Munich, Nepomuk Braun studied in Vienna and Salzburg with Reinhard Latzko, Heinrich Schiff and Cleens Hagen. In addition to the quartet, he has various engagements with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Nepomuk Braun has also performed as a as soloist and chamber musician with e.g. Alexander Lonquich, Erich Höbarth and Kurt Sassmanshaus, as well as with his brother, the pianist Aurelius Braun.

combi concert 

Brooklyn Rider
20:00 Flagey, Studio 4