"Imagination" was the theme of the 2019 edition of the Festival van Vlaanderen Gent under the artistic direction of Veerle Simoens. From September 14 to October 5, there was once again active and varied music-making, singing and dancing in concert halls, theaters, churches and museums, parks and … on the water.
Odegand, the festive opening that takes over the streets, squares and waterways of Ghent's city center, has become indispensable in the meantime and remains popular. This time I let this vibrant celebration pass me by and started my selective festival tour in the Sint-Baafskathedraal with O magnum mystrium a concert performed by the Cappella Amsterdam conducted by Krista Audere, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by Candida Thompson, musicians from Belgian Brass and Antwerp's city poet Maud Vanhauwaert. They performed compositions by Bruckner, Schnittke, Monteverdi, Tallis, Vaughan Williams, J.S. Bach, Gabrieli, Pärt and Respighi: works described by the organizers as "sounding architecture". It was up to the listeners to fill in this picture with their imagination. The various ensembles performed with dedication. And the audience listened attentively. But after each, relatively short composition, the assembly of a new combination of performers and the texts recited by Maud Vanhauwaert, they had to pick up the thread each time anew. It didn't benefit the overall experience.
This problem did not arise at the Bruckner concert by the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Collegium Vocale conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. As a native of Ghent, Herreweghe is of course familiar with the spatial acoustics of the cathedral. Moreover, he conducted two ensembles that he himself formed. The "Mass No. 2 in E minor" received a sober, fresh performance by an expanded Collegium Vocale. The Orchestre des Champs-Élysées let Bruckner's "Symphony No. 2 in C minor" fill the high vaults of the cathedral with a full, lean sound. Herreweghe projected this in the right direction with slowly building crescendos, beautifully controlled moments and a rousing scherzo.
Another internationally acclaimed, famous native of Ghent was the festival's next guest: René Jacobs. With the B'Rock Orchestra, which has also become internationally celebrated in the meantime, he brought a Mozart program to the Ghent Opera, titled Mozart: a symphony of songs, in which arias and duets from the operas Opéra national Montpellier / Marc Ginot and The Magic Flute were combined with fragments from the 40st and 41st symphonies. As a bonus, there was an aria that Mozart composed for an opera by Pasquale Anfossi. This aria was performed by Norwegian baritone Johannes Weisser with a powerful but not very flexible voice. In the duets he was joined by Korean soprano Sunhae Im, a graceful little thing with a small voice. All in all, this was light entertainment, in which the orchestra performed better than the singers, guided by René Jacobs with an experienced hand in the right direction.
A unique experience
Introducing Méditerranée-Nuit, Southern rhythms in the heart of Ghent you could visit the Ghent Opera, Café Théâtre, Minard and the Oude Vismijn to immerse yourself for about an hour in music from Portugal, Spain, Sardinia or Greece. I wanted to combine Sardinia and Greece, but since the Greeks didn't respect the indicated start time and the distance to the Sardinia location was difficult to cover in the remaining time, I simply stayed in the company of Katerina Papadopoulou and her ensemble in the Minard. Together with her three male colleagues, she presented a moody, quite restrained program. She sang to the music that her colleagues played on typical instruments and the tall, slender Chariton Charitonidis danced particularly smoothly and elegantly in his severe black suit.
A unique experience was Forgotten: a program described as "dementia on the waves of music", conceived by Tido Visser, the director of the Dutch Chamber Choir, who lost his father, opera singer Liewe Visser, to a particular form of dementia. With choral works of widely varying inspiration and intent and a theatrical text written by Spinvis (composer Erik de Jong), Forgotten came into being, a theatrical-musical piece that attempts to fathom what it's like when you begin to forget. Karel Vingerhoets played both the father with dementia and the concerned son, but was really an unnecessary addition to the atmosphere-creating performances of the Dutch Chamber Choir conducted by Peter Dijkstra with Erik Bosgraaf (improvising on recorder) and Jorrit Tamminga (electronics). It's up to each of us to find our own way through it and make impressions. And those were powerful, even without fully understanding what was being sung or how it all connected.
AMOR was the title of the production conceived by Michèle-Anne De Mey and her life partner Jaco van Dormael, dancer-choreographer and director-filmmaker. A near-death experience of De Mey served as a catalyst for her one-woman show in which various aspects of love and emotions were evoked, accompanied by inspiring music and visualized in evocative images and projections. The musical support was provided live by the Ensemble Bach Plus under the direction of Bart Naessens and singers Deborah Cachet and François Testory. Particularly impressive was the pure, expressive soprano of Deborah Cachet. I was less captivated by Michèle De Mey's choreography and the overall scenic realization.
A performance of Verdi's impressive Messa da Requiem by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen rounded off the 2019 edition of the Festival van Vlaanderen Gent. Alejo Pérez, the new music director of Flemish Opera, inspired the orchestra and choir, supplemented by the Flemish Radio Choir, to deliver a well-structured performance. My seat in the hall was, unfortunately, not ideal for getting a proper, balanced overall impression. The quartet of soloists consisted of Eleanor Lyons with a slender soprano, Teresa Iervolino, expressive with a clear mezzo, tenor Sergey Romanovsky, who pushed his voice hard, and veteran Roberto Scandiuzzi with a powerful, vibrant bass.
- WHAT: Festival van Vlaanderand Gandt
- WHERE: multiple venues throughout the city
- WHEN: September 14 through October 5, 2019
- VIDEO FOOTAGE: © FvV Gandt
