Spring is finally in the air and our DAS HAUS programme is starting to heat up for summer. On April 27th, we welcome an interesting mix of artists and musicians, bringing us ‘Oltreconfine’: a transboundary performance exploring new approaches to Flemish polyphonic repertoire.
‘Oltreconfine’ is a collaboration between recorder ensemble Delle Donne Consort, composer and singer Vigdis Hansa Elst and live electronics producer Maarten Buyl. These six musicians encounter each other from their own backgrounds and experiences and reach out to each other through different musical material. The basis for this performance is repertoire by Adriaan Willaert and Cypriaan de Rore, intertwined with a new composition by Vigdis Hansa Elst.
The vocal lines confront this repertoire with its own fragility and intimacy. A voice is ‘naked’, it gives away a lot about how we feel. A voice that breaks isn’t per se sonically beautiful, but it emotes and challenges. The question rises: can we find beauty in unpolished, raw sounds?
The live electronics mirror the physicality of tones. By manipulating certain aspects of sound, we can experiment with overtones, new harmonies and texture shifts. Recorder and voice are no longer two separate instruments, they become one. The live electronics generate harmonic layers unifying the two. All sound morphs into one hybrid mass.
Delle Donne Consort was founded in 2020 as a recorder ensemble, which consists of four young musicians, Serena Agosto, Lieve De Sadeleer, Kinga Ludvai and Frederike Van Lindt from Belgium, Hungary and Italy. Their name was inspired by the ‘concerto delle donne’, a group of professional female vocalists in the 16th century, who demonstrated their technical and artistic virtuoso at the court of Count Alfonso Ferrara. This ensemble was a pioneer in emancipating women as professional musicians. Delle Donne Consort operates around multiple core values: historically informed practice, connection between existing repertoire and new composition, diversity and inclusion, and collaboration with other fields.
Vigdis Hansa Elst is a young composer, violinist and vocalist who received her degree from the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp after studying with Wim Henderickx and Luc Vanhove. She benefited from a study exchange with the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo in Porto where she studied with Dimitris Andrikopoulos en Carlos Azevedo. She has written and performed in collaboration with Muziektheater Transparant, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Museum Vleeshuis, Zonzo Compagnie, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, ChampdAction and BOZAR, among others, and has had her works published by Euprint. She also enjoys venturing out into many other genres and art forms, for example jazz music and theatre text writing.
Maarten Buyl is a composer, sound designer, recording engineer and studio engineer. He studied at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and Antwerp, and followed masterclasses at the Orpheus Institute and CAMP. His compositions have been performed by ChampdAction, SPECTRA Ensemble and Quatuor Danel, among others. He has worked with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, Hermes Ensemble, LOD, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Toneelhuis and Troubleyn, with other composers such as Luc Brewaeys, Klaas Devos, Hèctor Parra, Stefan Prins, Kaija Saariaho, Serge Verstockt.
‘Oltreconfine’ is an unusual encounter by fascinating artists, leading to a collision between different worlds. And all that on a Saturday evening in April. We can’t wait to see you on the 27th!
The new composition by Vigdis Hansa Elst was made possible thanks to the support of Sabam for Culture. This programme was produced with the help of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles - Service des Musiques.