2. Polyphonic Performance Spaces 2025

Polyphonic Performance Spaces 2025

Polyphonic Performance Spaces 2025 - The Sound of Brussels c Antonio Ponte
Festival
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Meerdere locaties

The Sound of Brussels

Every year, the Polyphonic Performance Spaces research festival brings the best of artistic research to Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel.  This edition explores The Sound of Brussels: the city’s exceptionally rich sonic heritage, -past, present, and future.

This year’s programme pays tribute to the cultural and educational legacy of KCB, showcasing rare treasures from its library, highlighting connections with renowned instrument makers, and offering a future perspective on its evolving role in the musical landscape. Another hidden gem, the Coudenberg Palace, will be brought back to life through a series of lectures that illuminate the musical and historical context of the period 1500–1800. The journey continues into the interwar years, when Brussels emerged as a vibrant stage for international modernism. Composers such as Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Darius Milhaud found eager audiences for their work within the city, while Brussels also became a thriving hub for the international jazz scene, a legacy that continues to resonate powerfully to this day.

The Sound of Brussels invites exploration, there is so much to discover. Take your sense of adventure and join us for a series of lectures and workshops by internationally renowned performers and scholars!

Monday 17 November

Who

Location

RES#19+ RESEARCH GROUP
14:00-16:00LECTURE
Gender and the Conservatoire: mirror to the past, incentives for the future		Sasha RasmussenCampus Kaai (Media Room)
WORKSHOP
Sounds of the Past: Finding Aurality in Textual and Visual Source Material		Kurt Bertels
No registration needed
  
 

Tuesday 18 November

Who

Location

RES#19+ RESEARCH GROUP
9:30-9:45INTRODUCTIONJeroen Billiet / Kristin Van den BuysMuseum of Musical Instruments
9:45-10:45WORKSHOP
Thinking about Listening: Music and Sound in Historical Practice		Sasha Rasmussen
11:00-12:00LECTURE 
Brussels calling (1): aspects of musical life 		Benjamin Glorieux / Nuno Cernadas / Eleonora Perretta / Richard Sutcliffe / Chair: Jeroen Billiet
12:30-13:15ECLECTIC LUNCHTIME CONCERT All presenting researchers
13:30-14:30LECTURE
Brussels calling (2): the case of brassiness		Jens Demey / Paul Voet / Jeroen Billiet / Chair: Nuno Cernadas
14:45-16:00GROUP DISCUSSION
Wrap up and conclusions		Sasha Rasmussen
No registration needed
 

Monday 24 November

Who

Location

HISTORICALLY INFORMED PERFORMANCE PRACTICE RESEARCH GROUP
14:00-14:55LECTURE 
ReCoudenberg: Reenacting the Musical Life of the Coudenberg Palace		Matteo GemoloCoudenberg Palace (Aula Magna)
14:55-15:50LECTURE 
Musical Practices in Brussels and the (Southern) Netherlands during the 16th and 17th Centuries		Peter Van Heyghen
16:10-17:05LECTURE 
Music at the Brussels Court and the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula during the Eighteenth Century		Florian Heyerick
17:05-18:00LECTURE 
Archival Echoes of Brussels’ Opera History, ca 1650 -1750		Bruno Forment
19:00-20:00LECTURE 
The silent Sounds of Brussels: Musical Treasures in the Libraries of the KB and KCB/CRB		Ann Kelders / Johan Eeckeloo
20:00-21:00LECTURE 
The musical Instrument Makers Rottenburgh: Actual State of Research		Stefaan Verdegem / Jan De Winne
Reservation obligatory (before 20 November)
 

Tuesday 25 November

Who

Location

COMPOSITION, MUSIC WRITING AND MUSICOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
14:00-16:00LECTURE 
Six Keys to the Life and Works of Béla Bartók: the String Quartets		Zsombor NémethKCB (Room 042)
No registration needed
 

Wednesday 26 November

Who

Locatie

JAZZ, IMPROVSED AND POPULAR MUSIC RESEARCH GROUP
10:00-10:45ROUND TABLE
Sketches of Brussels, the Brussels jazz scene in the nineties		Kris Defoort / Jeroen Van Herzeele / Stéphane GallandCampus Kaai (Room 212)
11:00-12:00LECTURE 
The Original Brussels Sprout: Toots Thielemans and the Brussels Jazz Scene, from Protagonist to Icon 		Alexandre Piret
13:00-16:30WORKSHOP
Sketches of Belgium 		Kris Defoort / Piergiorgio Pirro
No registration needed
 

Thursday 27 November

Who

Location

COLLECTIVE CREATION RESEARCH GROUP
10:00-13:00WORKSHOP
Field Recording Listening to the Kleine Zavel 		Luca PiovesanKleine Zavel (extra muros)
Registration obligatory
14:30-16:30LECTURE-RECITALS
Fast nur Luft 		Tomma Wessel / Annelies Van Parys / Frederik Neyrinck / Marta GentilucciMuseum of Musical Instruments
No registration needed
 

Friday 28 November

Who

Location

COLLECTIVE CREATION RESEARCH GROUP
10:00-11:00LECTURE 
Symphonia Botanica		Michelle AgnesKCB (Room 071)
11:15-12:15LECTURE 
Svetlana Maraš on her music		Svetlana Maraš
14:00-18:00MASTERCLASS
Music and Technology 		Svetlana MarašKCB (Room 140)
No registration needed
 

Saturday 29 November

Who

Location

18:45-19:15INTRODUCTION
Béla Bartók and Brussels: a musical connection		Carl Van Eyndhoven / Kristin Van den BuysFlagey (Studio 4)
19:30-21:45CONCERT KCB Symphony Orchestra / Christian Arming
Reservation obligatory. Click here for more information.
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