19.07.26, 11:00, Vocaal à la carte

Benoît De Leersnyder has skilfully put together a varied programme featuring opera, operetta, art songs, chansons and musical theatre, performed by vocal students from KASK & Conservatorium. We couldn’t have imagined a more fitting opening to our festival.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featuring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

The French composer Olivier Messiaen is known for his great fondness for birdsong and his strong Catholic faith. Both interests feature prominently throughout his entire body of work. There are no bird sounds in Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, but, as the title suggests, he sets to music various aspects of the birth of Jesus in twenty meditations. This grand and imposing work, lasting over two hours, is right up pianist Bert Lasseel’s street.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featuring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Up-and-coming talent Nele Vernaillen was highlighted this year as one of Klara’s “Twenty-Somethings”. During a Toots session, she introduced her new band, Alver, to the wider public. Vernaillen’s flute lends the group a silvery glow – a quality Alver shares with the fish of the same name. Together, the musicians create soundscapes that elevate the act of getting lost once again to a romantic concept. Alver grooves, muses, dances and comforts, inviting you to do the same.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featuring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Ah, summer! Peak season for parasol hire firms, sun cream manufacturers and owners of outdoor swimming pools, but also for anything that makes you feel a bit ticklish. From bees in the open air to butterflies in the stomach, sister and brother Marjolein and Elewout Acke sing the praises of insects and other ticklish things in a programme about nature and romance. They gather songs from all corners of music history and weave them into a tittilating – or rather: tickling! – concert for the whole family. 

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

In Lander Lampaert’s world, every musical convention is called into question. Acoustic sounds are enriched with electronic elements, defined structures give way to organic growth, and even the tuning of the guitars is adjusted at will. Floaters is a world unto itself. Lampaert himself calls it his ‘bedroom project’, which he is now delighted to present to the Ghent audience, together with Luna Maes, Sybe Versluys, Lukja Vanaverbeke and Lou De Smet.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Impossible love, depression and poverty: the Romantic era was not solely devoted to celebrating love or the beauty of nature. Three great masters of that period—Brahms, Schumann and Schubert—found inspiration in less cheerful themes, yet were able to transform their personal misfortunes into wonderfully beautiful music like no other. Soprano Elise Marmad and pianist Florian Sharpe perform some of their most inspired songs, bringing hope and comfort in dark times.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

If you were to piece together the backgrounds of the musicians in the “!·$%$%/! Trio, they would cover just about the entire spectrum of musical genres. The boundaries between styles and between written and improvised music blur into an enchanting total experience. In this project, they play with the work of Alexander Schubert, amongst others, which blends seamlessly into their own music. No sharply defined pieces marked by applause, but a concert that feels like an immersion.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Nothing is what it seems with singer-songwriter Kiki Abels, except for the quality of her versatile band. Abels’s versatile voice effortlessly leads the way into a unique sonic universe, where a surprise lurks around every corner. What begins as a dreamy acoustic song can suddenly veer off into an outburst of chilling electronica. Just as quickly, everything clears up again, leaving you wondering whether it really happened, or whether it simply led you up the garden path, like a mirage for your ears.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Olivier Messiaen made no secret of his love for the Catholic faith. In the overwhelming Visions de l’Amen, he blends two pianos into a spiritually symbiotic whole: whilst one labours over fast, rhythmic runs, the other focuses on melody and emotion. Curious to see how Bert Lasseel and Renaat De Keyser divide the roles? One thing is certain: Messiaen’s music continues to resonate long after the final note has faded away. 

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

Saxophonist Ferre Vankeirsbilck recently formed a new quartet. With Vankeirsbilck’s own compositions as their foundation, the four musicians are not afraid to experiment. Their dynamic sound and flexibility guarantee fascinating combinations of tones and surprising twists in a performance that is constantly evolving. Vankeirsbilck shares the stage with Alexis Boone (keyboards), Alexander De Baedts (guitar and bass) and Toon Putteman (drums).

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

For this concert, pianist Jano Wijnants drew inspiration from the classical heroic epic. Not the flashy superhero antics of the Marvel universe, but a wandering hero in search of himself. That quest takes him through familiar and lesser-known works from the piano repertoire. Just as in the finest epics, this journey is one full of surprises and adventure: the great master Bach is heard alongside the post-minimalist musings of the 20th-century composer Duckworth, and in Schubert’s Erlkönig, death is hot on our heels.

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.

A quartet that actually wanted to be a trio; the story behind chrysopoeia’s formation is just as organic as their music. They improvise freely, without a drummer. With their focus on timbres, you’ll soon find yourself transported to another world, one of understated, austere beauty. A concert to find your inner self and forget everything else for a while. Noah Jordens (keyboards) is joined by Simon Cuypers (saxophone), Kasper Snellebrand (bass) and Zias Roeland (electronics – guitar).

Au Bain MIRY is a summer music festival featring concerts by up-and-coming talent from KASK & Conservatorium during the Gentse Feesten. The concerts are free for students and staff of KASK & Conservatorium. We want to make the concerts accessible to everyone. For those who wish to contribute, we operate a Pay What You Can system: you choose how much to contribute – come for free or choose between a small, standard or support contribution.