The festival Musica Divina brings heavenly and healing music to the beautiful abbeys, beguinages and churches in the Kempen every autumn. It is an organization of the Festival van Vlaanderen Kempen in collaboration with Averbode, Tongerlo (Westerlo), Mol/Postel, Geel, Heist-op-den-Berg, Herentals, Hoogstraten, Lier and Turnhout. The festival motto in 2023 is "Caring for one another". The many dimensions of this motto are explored during this festival edition: the guardian angel, care for the deceased and bereaved, self-care, rune songs, caring for people in flight, the marriage ceremony, building tomorrow today through our actions, caring for nature, allowing darkness and sharing the breath of life together. Among others, the Finnish Ensemble Gamut! and Norwegian Hardanger violinist and winner of the Nordic Music Prize 2022 Benedicte Maurseth bring healing music from the far north to the Kempen.
With her album Hárr Benedicte Maurseth won the Nordic Music Prize 2022 last year. During Musica Divina she presents it for the first time in Belgium, on October 5 in the Sint-Pieterskerk of Turnhout. The jury described the album as follows: "A bewitching fusion of traditional folk instrumentation with modern technology and field recordings. This is music that is as strikingly beautiful as the landscape that inspired it and that in its own soft powerful way engages with the vital issues of ecology and community.” In her music Maurseth shows that caring for nature and caring for each other are synonymous. With top musicians such as Christian Wallumrød, Håkon Mørch Stene andPer Zanussi By her side, this valuable musical message will shine.
Heavenly and healing music, this essence of Musica Divina is perfectly expressed in the project RE by the Finnish Ensemble Gamut!, in Heist-op-den-Berg on September 28. In it, they explore among other things the different traditions surrounding healing and music in the oldest preserved Finnish manuscripts and rune songs. They combine historical instruments and electronics in a refreshing way. Finnish folk, medieval music, improvisation and soundscapes go hand in hand. It will be a concert as invigorating as a walk in the Finnish forests.
Further on the Musica Divina program are among others BRYGGEN Bruges Strings at Averbode Abbey, Graindelavoix in Geel, Les Muffatti in Herentals, Voces Suaves at Tongerlo Abbey, Psallentes& The White Review in Mol, Romina Lischka at Postel Abbey, Carousel in Lier and Currende in Hoogstraten.
You can find the full program at: www.musica-divina.be.
