What’s on: Baroque flavours of contemporary music, art and dance in 2019's cultural debut

Summary

Rosas meets Bach in the latest piece from Anne Teresa D Keersmaeker, BOX stages its second New Year festival, and an urban light artist takes over STAM's chapel

Six Brandenburg Concertos

The latest dance creation by celebrated Flemish choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker gets its Belgian première on 5 January at De Munt in Brussels. The short run is already sold out, so you'll have to beg, borrow or blag a ticket if you want to see it.

The performance takes 16 dancers from different generations of De Keersmaeker's company Rosas, and maps them onto the ornate polyphony of Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Brandenburg Concertos, played live by the B'Rock ensemble. “Like no other, Bach's music carries within itself movement and dance, managing to combine the greatest abstraction with a concrete, physical and even transcendental dimension,” the choreographer explains. 5-9 January, De Munt, Brussels

Festival miXmass

The Baroque Orchestration X (BOX to its friends) takes over De Singel in Antwerp this weekend for the second edition of its miXmass Festival, a mixture of contemporary music and rich Baroque spirit. International guests include Richard Reed Parry of Canada's Arcade Fire, Hanna Benn from the USA and Högni Egilsson from Iceland, while contributions from closer to home come from Brihang, The Colorist Orchestra and many others. 5-6 January, De Singel, Antwerp

Graffitilights

Take a torch and set your camera to a long exposure, and you can paint with light. This idea has been taken to new heights by the artist Graffitilights, who uses self-made, programmable LED strips to create intricate patterns in the dark. Usually working out of doors with street art, Graffitilights will be in residence this weekend at the photogenic chapel at the heart of Ghent's City Museum (STAM), where visitors young and old can join in with the creative process. To 6 January, STAM, Ghent

Zwarte Panter is 50

There is still time to catch Schilders & Schrijvers, an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Antwerp's Zwarte Panter gallery. Specialising in contemporary figurative painting, the gallery has championed artists such as Fred Bervoets, Jan Cox, and Hugo Claes, as well as newer talents such as Nick Andrews and Tom Liekens. The exhibition tells the gallery's story through its striking posters and beautifully produced books and catalogues, revealing an impressive achievement in graphic design. To 13 January, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Antwerp

Photo: Rosas rehearsing The Six Brandenburg Concertos
© Anne Van Aerschot/Rosas