16 Sep '15

Bozar kicks off new season with all-night music fest

Summary

Bozar's Music Opening Night marks the start of the 150th season of the arts centre and, fittingly, there will be music everywhere

Multimedia and site-specific performances

Bozar is known for its original art deco architecture, its world-class visual arts exhibitions and the occasional presidential appearance (Barack Obama, for instance, as if you had forgotten).
 

It’s also one of Brussels’ most popular concert halls, with a programme spanning classical, contemporary, electronic and world music. All are showcased during the season kick-off gala that is Bozar Music Opening Night.

More than a dozen multimedia and site-specific performances unfold throughout the building but particularly in the majestic Henry Le Boeuf Hall. This opening night is special for another reason: it marks the start of Bozar’s 150th season.

There’s music everywhere. The Secession Orchestra stalks the hallways with instruments in hand.

The collaborative Music Rooms project colonises foyer, balcony and studio. The reception salon is occupied by one of the opening night’s headliners, German overtone singer Anna-Maria Hefele. A YouTube sensation, Hefele can sing two distinct vocal parts at the same time.

The centrepiece of the programme is Quatuor Tana’s marathon performance of String Quartet II. The six-hour piece was conceived by pioneering American composer Morton Feldman as a kind of meditative exercise and, true to spirit, the musicians (pictured) refuse to strike any epic poses. Like a stream flowing through the opening night festivities, String Quartet II is an occasion for contemplation rather than a call to arms. Robert Wilson’s ultra-slow-motion video installation Lady Gaga: Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière is another exploration of the longue durée.

It’s not all arty abstraction, though. Austrian producer Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of classical composer Sergei Prokofiev, gives the classics a cybernetic shot in the arm with his Vienna Remix. Finally, the night ends with a late-night dance party hosted by Brussels DJ Fady One and inspired by the German word for “future” (zukunft).
19 September, 19.00 at Bozar, Brussels

Photo by Nicolas Draps

About the author

No comments

Add comment

Log in or register to post comments

Now read this

Brussels Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar)

The cultural house Bozar is one of the foremost arts centres in the country. Its multidiscliplinary approach to the arts makes this federal cultural institution unique. It organises both large exhibitions and plays host to everything from classic orchestra concerts to Balkan music festivals.
Building - With eight levels, the Bozar building was designed in the 1920s by famed Art Deco architect Victor Horta, who envisioned it as a bridge between the lower and higher parts of the city. It has been listed as a partially protected monument since 1977.
Director - Director-general Paul Dujardin is credited with breathing new life into the centre from the early 2000s onward. Under his leadership, the building was intensively renovated while the previously fragmented offer of cultural activities was streamlined and expanded.
Money - The centre derives more than half of its revenue from its box office. Its budget is additionally supplemented by structural subsidies from the federal government and project-based subsidies from the Flemish and French Communities.
250

orchestra concerts per year

20

exhibitions per year

240 000

visitors to spring exhibitions in 2013

Related articles