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Gent Festival van Vlaanderen invited all the large Belgian orchestras to perform all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Festival with an adapted line-up. Five string players from La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra take on the imposing and iconic fifth symphony. They play this majestic ‘symphony of symphonies’ in an arrangement by Carl Friedrich Ebers, an exact contemporary of Beethoven. He arranged the symphony for string quintet three years after the composer’s death. This ‘reduction’ does even more justice to the ingenious structure of the work, which unfolds from the four notes of the famous opening motif, than in the original!

A measure and a half – that is the length of the introduction to the most refreshing violin concerto ever. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor was his last great work for orchestra, and his ticket to eternal fame. 175 years later the work has lost none of its impact. Robert Schumann is known principally for his lovely piano music and emotional lieder. But the tormented composer also wrote many other fine works. His his Second Symphony displays fighting spirit, sunlight and positivism: indispensable energy in his personal struggle against dark thoughts and illness, and a musical tribute to Bach and Beethoven.

Gent Festival van Vlaanderen invited all the large Belgian orchestras to perform all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Festival with an adapted line-up. Beethoven’s fourth symphony was described by Schumann as ‘the slim Greek maiden between two northern giants’, referring to the monumental third and fifth symphonies. In this cycle, the work is performed by members of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. They perform the transcription for septet by William Watts, violist and secretary of London’s Royal Philharmonic Society.

Gent Festival van Vlaanderen invited all the large Belgian orchestras to perform all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Festival with an adapted line-up. With the third symphony, the ‘Eroica’, we resolutely turn our backs on the classical eighteenth-century world of Haydn and Mozart. The length of the symphony alone is a sign that we are dealing with something new. Belgium’s adventurous chamber orchestra Casco Phil performs a nonet version, with four strings and five wind instruments, composed by Carl Friedrich Ebers.

Gent Festival van Vlaanderen invited all the large Belgian orchestras to perform all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Festival with an adapted line-up. For the second symphony, numbers are reduced to the favourite line-up of the piano trio. None other than Jos van Immerseel takes his place behind the pianoforte. Accompanied by Midori Seiler on violin and Mercedes Ruiz on cello, he flies the flag for Anima Eterna, the orchestra that has performed the nine symphonies in full numerous times, and which is unparalleled in the mastery of their specific idiom and the corresponding instrumentation. The arrangement that they play was created shortly after the symphony was composed, and according to the title page is by the author himself. This was probably a sales trick, because there are indications that Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries was responsible for the lion’s share of the work, and that Beethoven only supplied the finishing touches.

Gent Festival van Vlaanderen invited all the large Belgian orchestras to perform all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Festival with an adapted line-up. Beethoven's First Symphony still has one foot firmly planted in the eighteenth-century rhetorical tradition. It is thus a perfect fit for B'Rock, which has already been wowing international audiences for fifteen years with music from Monteverdi to Haydn.

Inspired by van Eyck’s masterpiece ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb’, the renowned Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has composed 'Agnus Dei, the adoration of the Lamb'.

The beautiful opening concert of MA Festival 2020! With “Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint”, François Couperin composed one of the most stirring works in Baroque music. Coloured by bold harmonies and rich ornamentation, Jeremia’s lamentations attain an extraordinary intensity. Capriola Di Gioia renders Couperin’s intimate masterpiece for two sopranos and basso continuo.