10.11.26, 10:00, Manuel Hermia, The Rajazz theory — a musical geometry

Three powerful chords, followed by a brief round of introductions: this is how Haydn’s first string quartet, Opus 76, begins. The Karski Quartet pairs this landmark work with the lesser-known Fourth String Quartet by the Polish composer Bacewicz, a twentieth-century composer and violinist who displays tremendous vitality through her rhythmic precision and modern harmonies. Tradition and daring are key words in the Karski Quartet’s vocabulary. They are constantly seeking ways to connect the past with the present and to engage in dialogue not only with one another but also with the audience. This approach has earned them numerous awards. In 2018, for instance, they won the Grand Prix at the Triomphe de l’Art competition, and at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they were awarded the Christine and David Anderson Career Development Prize.

Will to Wander concerts bring together a classical soloist or duo — specifically selected by MIRY — with a second artist who formulates an artistic response to the same piece.

An-Sofie Perneel is a talented young violinist who is making a name for herself as a soloist and concertmaster with various national and international youth orchestras. Pianist Greet Steeman specialised in piano, chamber music and song accompaniment, studying at institutions including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. As a piano accompanist and coach, she has worked with a wide range of ensembles and musicians, and she leads annual Suzuki music workshops for young players. Perneel and Kolacny delve into the musical world of Béla Bartók.

This struck a chord with pianist Rodrigo Evangelista, who, ever since he swapped Argentina for Belgium, has been searching for the sound of home. Once you’ve lived in two such completely different places, can you ever feel completely at home anywhere? Evangelista interprets the duality between the sounds of the past and the sounds of the present in a wholly unique way, on a piano that is just as fragmented as his sense of home.

The Dutch newspaper NRC describes Hannes Minnaar’s piano playing as ‘free of pretence and bravado’; it is therefore no surprise that he is receiving widespread acclaim. His third prize at the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition marked the start of his international career. Since then, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras worldwide and collaborated with such illustrious names as Herbert Blomstedt, Marin Alsop, Eliahu Inbal and Philippe Herreweghe.

With his Van Baerle Trio, he specialises in Beethoven’s piano trios. Bach features prominently in his solo repertoire. Minnaar’s refined playing is perfectly suited to the master’s lucid compositional style. This connection with Bach’s work naturally leads him to Shostakovich as well, who modelled his 24 Preludes and Fugues on Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.

Students from the conservatories of Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp are bringing out their brass instruments under the baton of Luc Vertommen. Together, they will perform a programme featuring compositions by Walton, Dobson, Gregson and Mussorgsky.

Vertommen is a conductor, teacher and a passionate connoisseur of wind music, with a strong international reputation within the genre.

Yasuaki Shimizu

The Japanese saxophonist, composer and producer Yasuaki Shimizu has been active in the music world for almost fifty years. His work moves effortlessly between pop, jazz, minimalism, soundtracks and pure experimentation. He has collaborated with artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Björk and Van Dyke Parks. Cult albums ‘Kakashi’ and ‘Utakata No Hibi’, masterful fusions of Japanese folk and pop elements, have found a new audience in recent years thanks to reissues on Palto Flats. Thanks to the refined electronic/disco production style, they sound just as fresh as they did in the early 1980s.

Following a completely sold-out first-ever North American tour in 2025, he is now set to perform at our RUISKAMER for the first time, a unique opportunity to hear and see a living legend up close.

Yasuaki Shimizu is a maverick saxophonist, composer and producer whose nearly 50-year career spans an impossibly broad range of genres. He is a well-known figure in the Japanese music scene, recognised for his crossover pop hits, film soundtrack work and a host of high-profile live commissions, installations and collaborations with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Björk, Van Dyke Parks and David Cunningham. Shimizu’s music reached a wider audience in the West following the reissue on Palto Flats of his iconic 1982 solo album *Kakashi* and his band Mariah’s classic 1983 record *Utakata No Hibi* – masterful hybrids of Japanese folk and pop idioms filtered through a honed electronic/disco production aesthetic that make them sound fresher than ever today.

Shimizu embarked on his first North American tour in 2025, selling out every show. Don’t miss his stop at RUISKAMER, to witness his ever-evolving artistry.

Catharina Evens

Catharina Evens (b. 1997, Brussels) is a Belgian experimental electro-acoustic pianist who seeks an alternative sound palette for the acoustic piano. She does this, among other things, by manipulating acoustic sounds live via electronics and amplifying them to resonate through the piano’s entire soundboard and strings. The typical piano sound, which we usually associate with the acoustic piano, fades away, making way for a unique sonic universe whose various musical possibilities she further explores through improvisation and composition.

Through granular textures, playful capriciousness, compelling pianistic passages, naive phrases, percussive accents, piano preparations, rhythmic sequences and the exploration of the space between different musical genres, Catharina creates her own absurd sonic world full of narrative fragments.

Catharina Evens (b. 1997, Brussels) is a Belgian experimental electro-acoustic pianist who seeks to explore an alternative sonic palette for the acoustic piano. She achieves this, in part, by manipulating acoustic sounds live using electronics, amplifying them and allowing them to resonate through the piano’s entire soundboard and strings. The typical piano sound, which we usually associate with the acoustic piano, fades away, making way for a unique sonic universe whose various musical possibilities she further explores through improvisation and composition.

Using granular textures, playful capriciousness, compelling pianistic passages, naive phrases, percussive accents, piano preparations, rhythmic sequences and exploring the space between different musical genres, Catharina creates her own absurd world of sound, full of narrative fragments.

Students from the conservatories of Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp are bringing out their brass instruments under the baton of Luc Vertommen. Together, they will perform a programme featuring compositions by Walton, Dobson, Gregson and Mussorgsky.

Vertommen is a conductor, teacher and a passionate connoisseur of wind music, with a strong international reputation within the genre.

Belgian Music Days, dat betekent veel muziek van eigen bodem, met een bijzondere focus op werk van nog levende componisten. Het Brusselse Ensemble Fractales wisselt vier keer van gedaante dankzij stukken van Daan Janssens, Eliott Delafosse, Stefan Prins en Pierre Slinckx. Manuel Hermia (saxofoon/compositie) werkte lang aan zijn Rajazz-theorie (een combinatie van Indiase raga’s met jazz) en doet die theorie vol passie uit de doeken. Met zijn Rajazzic tribe brengt hij ze al even gepassioneerd in de praktijk. Pianist Brecht Valckenaers focust zich dan weer volledig op hedendaagse pianomuziek van Belgische makelij, met onder meer een creatie van Pieter Schuermans en eigen werk. Studenten van de Koninklijke Conservatoria van Gent, Antwerpen en Brussel doken in de archieven en visten tussen de 2 miljoen partituren enkele erfgoedparels op.

PROVERBS presents four minimalist masterpieces from the 20th century, chosen for their introspective quality. Tehillim (1981), Steve Reich’s definitive masterpiece, forms the centrepiece of the evening.

At the other end of the spectrum, Gavin Bryars’ The Sinking of the Titanic (1972) gives a different meaning to the word ‘minimalism’.

This concert is conceived as a poetic and quasi-narrative experience. Carefully lit, amplified and mixed in quadraphonic sound. It begins with the ‘instrumental theatre’ of Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question (1908) and features, as an interlude, Steve Reich’s Proverb from 1995 — a gem of simplicity and unerring expression.

During KASK & Conservatorium’s project week, the clarinet classical music students work alongside students of composition and jazz and pop music. A composition student is writing a new piece for the KASK & Conservatorium Clarinet Choir.

For this co-production with Ars Musica, soprano Juliet Fraser and violinist Hannah Weirich drew inspiration from the seemingly endless variety of birds of paradise that inhabit the forests of Papua New Guinea and Australia. As if the names of these little creatures weren’t magical enough, it is also said that they never touch the ground. The males adorn themselves with a sense of style and drama in veils, capes and fans, and often have beautifully coloured plumage. Apart from their appearance, they are also excellent songbirds. All this beauty inspired Kristine Tjøgersen to write The Shape-Shifters, with the voice and the violin taking on the role of birds of paradise. Fraser and Weirich add atmospheric soundscapes by Helge Sten (aka Deathprod) and a composition by Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir.

The harp, one of the oldest instruments in the world, is far from having run its course, and Stef Van Vynckt has played no small part in this. Through his frequent collaborations with composers, he is systematically expanding the harp repertoire. This takes him to the world’s finest concert halls and festivals, such as the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival in New York.

In his recent project Forever – is composed of Nows, Van Vynckt observes that ‘forever’ is not something that lies unattainably far in the future, but rather consists of a succession of moments. At a time when our attention span is deteriorating at an alarming rate and people are desperately trying to live in the present, Van Vynck offers a solution: a performance in which time expands and the sounds continue to reverberate – who knows, perhaps forever.

With Natalie Lewis and Brian Zeger, two giants of the vocal world are coming to Ghent. Lewis, an American mezzo-soprano, is a member of the ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera and is at the start of what can be described as a promising career. Later this season, she has concerts planned with Zubin Mehta and Kirill Petrenko, and will appear as a soloist with, amongst others, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Brian Zeger is widely acclaimed as a lieder accompanist and is the artistic director of the Marcus Vocal Arts department at Juilliard.

The American background of both performers becomes evident in the second half of the concert, featuring a number of spirituals and works by Price. The first half, by contrast, focuses on European Romanticism, with Brahms, Wagner and Mahler.

Dmitry Smirnov is one of the most remarkable violinists of his generation. He switches with apparent ease between Baroque and contemporary repertoire. His list of awards is nothing short of impressive, including second prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition (2008) and the ARD Music Competition (2021), as well as a first prize at, amongst others, the Concours d’Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne (2017). His appearance at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2024 caused a stir when, quite unexpectedly, he was knocked out in the semi-finals following an idiosyncratic Mozart concerto and an unparalleled solo sonata by Bartók, which is also on tonight’s programme. With a supple yet precise left hand and dazzling bow control, Smirnov places himself entirely at the service of the music, which he brings to life with unrivalled expressiveness.

Ruiskamer and Different Class are organising an evening programme centred on the Liège-based audiovisual artist François Boulanger, also known as ssaliva. Under that name, he has been creating hypnotic and ethereal soundscapes since 2011. Especially for this Ruiskamer event, he is collaborating with his partner in crime, 0comeups, to compose a piece of electro-acoustic music that will be performed by GAME. In addition, 0comeups will perform a live set of their own. ssaliva himself will present an audiovisual spectacle alongside London-based sound and video artist Nicola Tirabasso (VISIO).

ssaliva

François Boulanger is an audiovisual artist born in Liège, Belgium in 1983. He started producing music and photography/collages by the end of the 90’s/early 2000.
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In 2011, he started his experimental project « ssaliva ». After working for years as Cupp Cave on alternative hip-hop and dance beats, he developed hypnotic soundscapes based on sparse rhythms, lush tones and crystallised textures. A personal and romantic rendition of a life amidst nature and city pollution.

His work as ssaliva also consists of documenting equally ethereal and removed places in pictures, two compulsive and lonely processes that have made him accumulate thousands of strange, escapist mental landscapes. Sometimes ghostly, sometimes sacred, an instantly recognizable form of melancholia.

0comeups

0comeups’ work has been described as epic collage: expansive, densely layered compositions suspended somewhere between sound art and memory. His music inhabits an emotional space that feels almost holy, evoking nostalgia and solitude, shaped by grey skies and tower blocks, fields and woodlands, isolation and melancholy. Songs unfold as shifting landscapes, revealing new details with every encounter as unrest gives way to moments of elevated repose.

VISIO

VISIO is the alias of London-based musician and visual artist Nicola Tirabasso. Working across sound, moving image and visual composition, his practice investigates the arcane boundaries between reality and the inexplicable. Drawing from fictional imaginaries, folk symbolism, internet mythologies and antiquarian visual culture, he constructs fragmented worlds where deliberate anachronism and inauthenticity become tools to question memory, authenticity and contemporary narratives.

Since becoming an integral part of the Macao collective in Milan, Tirabasso has played an active role in independent cultural production, later founding the London-based initiatives Nocturnal Reflections and Club Mutante. Over the years he has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning live performance, installation, film and graphic design, collaborating with artists including ssaliva, Heith, Penny Rimbaud, Rustan Söderling and Günseli Yalcinkaya.

In 2022, VISIO released his debut LP Privacy Angels via Haunter Records, an album exploring mythological narratives, digital spirituality and fractured memory through experimental song structures and immersive sound design. In 2024 he presented the solo exhibition Fools Circel 9wys in Milan, curated by Threes and featuring the participation of Penny Rimbaud. In 2026 he released Trickstar, a collaborative audiovisual work with ssaliva, accompanied by a video by Noel Oplinger.

His work has been presented internationally through exhibitions, screenings and performances at venues and institutions including the ICA, South London Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, Lafayette Anticipations, Swiss Institute, Club To Club, Cripta747, Spazio Maiocchi, Fondazione Elpis and Neo Shibuya. In 2025 he joined the roster of SHAPE+ Platform.

Alongside his artistic practice, Tirabasso develops publications, visual identities and collaborative projects for artists, labels and cultural institutions including AD93, 4AD, PAN, Halcyon Veil, Editions Mego, Centre Pompidou, Empty Gallery, Pitchfork, Versace, LOST Festival, VTSS and Slam Jam.

Lucien Goethals and SPECTRA: a match made in heaven. The ensemble owes not only its name but also its musical DNA to this leading figure of post-war Belgian classical music. Twenty years after Goethals’s death, SPECTRA is paying him yet another special tribute, together with the rising stars of Duo Obscura. Freshly graduated from KASK & Conservatorium and ready to take the world’s stages by storm, they have chosen the rarely performed Sonata for Violin and Piano by Goethals’ fellow pioneer in electronic music, Karel Goeyvaerts, and Goethals’ Endomorfie I, in which acoustic and electronic sounds are tastefully interwoven. SPECTRA continues with Goethals’ Gilgamesh, based on the eponymous four-thousand-year-old epic about a demigod from Mesopotamia, and his Concierto de la luz y las tinieblas, which he wrote for the organ at the MIRY Concert Hall.

Will to Wander concerts bring together a classical soloist or a duo — specifically selected by MIRY — with a second artist who formulates an artistic response to the same piece. When one hears the term ‘cello suites’, J.S. Bach immediately springs to mind, but Benjamin Britten also wrote three. He dedicated them to one of the most important cellists of the last century, Mstislav Rostropovich. The Belgian Pierre Fontenelle chose the first and third suites for his performance at the MIRY Concert Hall. For a time, he was the principal cellist with the orchestra of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, before embarking on a career as a soloist and chamber musician.

In his ‘Will to Wander’ response, Ali Choupani Nejad deconstructs Britten’s First Suite and uses the material to construct a new reality, in which repetition provides an auditory anchor within an otherwise thoroughly jumbled framework. His musical language has been shaped, amongst other things, by his Persian roots, his fascination with contemporary playing techniques, and the role that improvisation and the human body play in his life.

Students are bringing to light heritage treasures from the conservatory libraries in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.

• Lucien Goethals (Gent, 1931 – Gent, 2006)
  Endomorfie I (viool, magnetofoon en piano) & Cellotape (cello, magnetofoon en piano)
  Quirijn De Bosscher (viool), Ceres Lauwer (cello) en Bert Lasseel (piano) — coach: Pieter Jansen
  KASK & Conservatorium
• Louis Bärwolf (Brugge, 1840 – Brussel, 1899)
  Octuor pour instruments à cuivre, op. 103
  Antoine Petit (flugelhorn Es / trompet in Es), Pedro Gómez Rentería (flugelhorn Bes), Rami Fumagalli (cornet Bes), Spirydon Michalopoulos (trompet F), Warre De Raet (althoorn), Luna Meli (bariton), Jente Loose (trombone), Fons Dobbelaere (tuba) — coach: Bram Fournier
  Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen
• Frans Geysen (Oostham, 1936)
  In het teken van de verticale gloed (voor saxofoonsextet)
  Studenten uit de klas van Simon Diricq — coach: Simon Diricq
  Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

Ensemble Fractales, based in Brussels, was founded out of a shared desire to promote and explore new musical repertoires. The ensemble — comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano — specialises in performing a wide range of contemporary music.

“Hände ohne Orte” — this programme follows four starkly contrasting paths through a shared instrumental landscape.

This project brings together the various areas of research that Manuel Hermia has been exploring in recent years. Firstly, all the compositions are essentially inspired by the rajazz system. Secondly, the aim is to strike a balance between the rigid structure of the written parts and the entirely improvised passages, as well as between acoustic and electronic sounds, and between melodic-harmonic material and non-idiomatic sound textures.

Finally, the quest for spiritual depth and rhythmic trances converge in the pursuit of an intensity that is at once raw, honest, committed and wild.

This project brings together the various areas of research that Manuel Hermia has been exploring in recent years. Firstly, all the compositions are essentially inspired by the rajazz system. Secondly, the aim is to strike a balance between the rigid structure of the written parts and the entirely improvised passages, as well as between acoustic and electronic sounds, and between melodic-harmonic material and non-idiomatic sound textures.

Finally, the quest for spiritual depth and rhythmic trances converge in the pursuit of an intensity that is at once raw, honest, committed and wild.