sound & vision
BIOGRAphies of the musicians
ART’uur (Wim Van Hasselt / Koen Plaetinck) - Parvati / Telivisioniist
A rare synergy emerges when the unique lyricism of trumpeter Wim Van Hasselt is combined with the boundless creativity of percussionist Koen Plaetinck. Inspired while recording as joint soloists with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, these former student-colleagues and soul-mates resolved to form the musical duo ART'uur. A limitless faith in each other’s musical ability, an unconditional mutual respect, and a friendship of many years join to form an exceptional symbiosis with a single, unequivocal, shared conviction: authenticity, beauty and creativity must be the sole objective. As a counterweight to the sometimes fleeting and trivial professional daily tasks, the project has one all-embracing motivation: a search for depth, and the experience of a creative process that fuses uncompromised music-making, authenticity and renewal. In dialogue with various carefully-selected composers and visual artists, while exploring all the limits of their extensive instrumental inventory, they passionately recount their personal story.
Alice Van Leuven - Echo de Clèves
Alice Van Leuven recently graduated from the Universität der Künste in Berlin where she studied in the violin class of Mark Gothoni and in the chamber music class of the Artemis Quartet. Before that she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne with Susanna Yoko Henkel and at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel with Philippe Graffin. She’s a member of Sonos Ensemble and Trio Aries that won the chamber music competition Supernova in February 2020 with the additional CD-recording prize that will be released in 2021. She was invited to play on many festivals like the Festival Midi-Minimes, OdeGand, de Zomer van Sint Pieter, Klara in deSingel, Festival Musiq3 and the Festival Resonances. As a soloist, Alice performed a few times with the orchestra Sinfonietta (conductor Luc Bartholomeus) and l'Orchestre de Chambre de la Néthen (conductors Alain and Benoît Meulemans).
Diamanda La Berge Dramm - The air we breathe
Diamanda La Berge Dramm (1991) grew up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands playing the violin since the age of four. Growing up among the leading figures of the Dutch classical, avant-garde and improvisation scene, her own concerts reflect all of these elements. She has worked extensively with modern music luminaries such as Christian Wolff, Alvin Lucier, Gunther Schuller, Chaya Czernowin, George Benjamin, and Georg Friedrich Haas. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory in Boston with James Buswell and Nicholas Kitchen. At graduation, she was awarded the John Cage Award for her contribution to new music. Diamanda received her Masters of Music from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, studying with Vera Beths. She was awarded the Nicolai Prize for the most exceptional recital. In March 2020 NRC Handelsblad named Diamanda one of the 101 talents for the next decade.
Frederik Croene - Diamond Princess
After graduating from Conservatories in 1999 Frederik Croene developed a handful trajectories in which he reflects on the ever changing and multi-layered identities of the classical pianist. As the Gestalt of his instrument is grounded in 19th century romanticism, he still uses virtuosity to communicate about being a pianist. He played and recorded the classical repertoire and worked intensively with composers as Michael Beil, Johannes Kreidler, Simon Steen-Andersen, Michael Finnissey, Alexander Schubert and Stefan Prins. His formulation of the concept of 'Le Piano Démécanisé' in an article and an LP-release in 2010 was a turning point in becoming a composer/performer. With pianist Elisa Medinilla he founded PIANOGUIDE, a dynamic pianist think tank that develops concert events together with programmers and for which Croene composes new pieces. Other trajectories tend to focus more on transdisicplinary art with artist Karl van Welden, improvisation and intiutive performance/studio recording with Timo van Luijk a.k.a Af Ursin. He is a piano teacher and leads the Vinim-atelier, a place for new music experiments. In a small venue in Merelbeke (BE) he curated PXP (2015-2020), a series of concerts with experimental music.
Vessel - We’ll find you when the sun goes black
Vessel is the musical alias of London based composer Sebastian Gainsborough. His first album Order of Noise was released on experimental mainstay Tri-Angle Records. In 2014 the sophomore album, Punish, Honey was released to widespread critical acclaim with the single Red Sex being lofted via the trailer for Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden. After an extended period of touring, writing and maturation through artistic residencies the third record Queen of Golden Dogs, was released in late 2018. Vessle is a founding member of Bristol's Young Echo Collective, and an alumnus of renowned residencies such as Aldeburgh Music, Tate and Somerset House.
Guy Vandromme - Drei Choräle
Pianist/conductor Guy Vandromme is a performer within the fields of opera and music theatre, dance, working as a soloist, accompanist, conductor and artistic director. He has been a major driver behind the program of the European Cultural Capital of Brugge 2002. More recently he became responsible for the festival Klankenstroom bringing cultural heritage, classical music and tourism together and was invited to launch a new festival in Süd-Tirol Talklang. His main focus is to open the boundaries of music theatre, collaborating with contemporary artists and exploring scores of forgotten music. In december 2018 Edition Wandelweiser Records released his first solo recording with the Number Pieces of John Cage and Socrate of Erik Satie in collaboration with the soprano Olalla Alemán.