Festival

Festival 2010

Classical music of the highest level, contemporary dance and fi lm: that’s the KlaraFestival 2010. Born in 1860, Gustav Mahler was controversial in his own time, but is venerated today as one of the most important artists of the 19th century ‘fi n de siècle’. Merging tradition and innovation, he was a man of his age for whom humour and profound emotions could go hand in hand. For a full ten days, together with our partners Klara, BOZAR, Kaaitheater, De Munt /La Monnaie, Flagey and CINEMATEK, we will be exploring the legacy of this major composer through his relationship to his predecessors, contemporaries and successors. Mahler as a link between old and new, literally and fi guratively. THE Mahler CONNECTION…

As you might expect from an international festival, this edition has much more in store for you. Among other things we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Concerto Köln with two very different concerts, the arrival of a raft of top vocal talents such as Simone Kermes, the world creation of the latest dance performance of Claire Croizé, the presence of the world’s best orchestras accompanying rare talents like Maurizio Pollini and the world premiere of a new quartet that goes by the name of Maeterlinck.

Add to this the mysterious Club K with Uri Caine, the great opening celebration ‘Big First Night’ with free concerts in the Brussels train stations and the Cologne Hauptbahnhof, the eighth edition of Living Room Music in Brussels’s Matonge district and in Koekelberg, and you’ll just know that KlaraFestival 2010 is not to be missed.

Moreover, everything can be followed non-stop on the radio via Klara and Musiq3, in the printed press via De Standaard and La Libre Belgique, abroad via the European Broadcasting Union and online on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and at www.klarafestival.be. This musical explosion is offered to you by the Festival van Vlaanderen Brussel!

Hendrik Storme, Artistic Director Festival van Vlaanderen Brussel
Sophie Detremmerie, Business Director Festival van Vlaanderen Brussel
Jan Briers, Gand/Managing Director Festival van Vlaanderen Brussel - Ghent

KLARAFESTIVAL ON AIR

The KlaraFestival also promises great days for the radio! With Klara, you’ll be sitting in the fi rst row for all of the concerts. Moreover, for ten days Gustav Mahler -the man, the myth & the music - will be Klara’s special focus.

In Espresso (6-9 a.m.) Thomas Vanderveken sketches the life of Mahler in 10 episodes, with the fi gure of Alma inevitably receiving attention as well. In the morning you’ll learn from our KlaraFestival reviewers Kurt Van Eeghem and Sylvia Broeckaert what they thought of the previous day’s evening’s concert.

In Brede Opklaringen (9 a.m. - noon) Mark Janssens puts together the Mahler discotheque with the must haves for those who want some of the composer’s music in their own collections. In De Ambassadeurs (noon -1 p.m.) Katelijne Boon puts her guests to the test with a Mahler quiz. Legendary recordings will be played for you by Nicole van Opstal in Café Zimmermann (1 - 4 p.m.). We broadcast the noon concert in Concerto (4 - 5 p.m.) with extensive commentary from Lut Van der Eycken. The KlaraFestival is obviously also on the agenda of the cultural magazine Babel (5 - 7 p.m.). Heidi Lenaerts introduces us to Mahler’s artistic circle and its painters, writers and architects. After that comes the ‘moment suprême’ of the day, with Fred Brouwers setting up camp in his box in Flagey or BOZAR for the evening concert (7 - 10.30 p.m.) naturally with a host of impressive guests at his side. Then Mixtuur (10.30 p.m. - midnight) takes over for a surprising and varied musical exploration of Mahler’s oeuvre and the broadcast of the late night concerts. On Saturday 11 September in Scala (8 p.m. - midnight) you can hear the Wagner opera Lohengrin. Mahler made his debut with this work on 11 May 1897 at the Vienna Court Opera, where he would later be appointed director. Scala is broadcasting the recording from the Bayreuther Festspiele, with Jonas Kaufmann as Lohengrin and Annette Dasch as Elsa. The Latvian Andris Nelson conducts. On Sunday 5 September Klara begins the series of ‘The Mahler Connection’ (5 - 8 p.m.).

Mahler said that to understand his work, you have to listen to his entire oeuvre in chronological order. And that is what we will do at Klara from the fi rst part of the Piano Quartet in A minor through his unfi nished Tenth Symphony. All this music will be extensively introduced by top conductors who have taken Mahler into their hearts. The Mahler Connection means Mahler from A to Z, complete and in the right order, over the course of 15 Sunday evenings. Kurt Van Eeghem is your host. You can fi nd more information at www.klara.be.

Enjoy the KlaraFestival!

Chantal Pattyn, Netmanager Klara