With each edition of the LOOP festival, the Forum de la Création Musicale strives to offer you a comprehensive overview of contemporary music in the FWB, without seeking to identify a particular theme, which would reduce the range of proposals and the desire for experimentation of the artists who perform there, and who you can discover in our detailed program.

For this 14th edition, the festival is taking over several Brussels venues for a rich and varied program: The Senghor, the Baixu, the Tricoterie and the Projection Room. In addition to the traditional concerts, the festival offers a wide range of shows, inviting you to discover the music of today and tomorrow.

This year, the festival is initiating a new international exchange program with the support of the European Union via EFFEA, starting with the DME ensemble from Lisbon (Portugal), who will present an opening concert featuring a program mixing composers from here and there.

Full Program

Thursday 23 January, Le Senghor

20h Confluence of Sounds

By ensemble DME (Portugal)

With the support of the European Festivals Association and the EFFEA program, this concert is part of an exchange program between the LOOP festival and the CROMA festival (Lisbon). Ensemble DME will present works by composers from both countries, in a program of acoustic and mixed music, at the crossroads of musical paths between Belgium and Portugal. On this occasion, two new works will be premiered, one by Judith Adler de Oliveira and the other by Arsha Samsaminia; alongside works that highlight the artistic richness of both countries.

Works by Thierry de Mey, Annette Vande Gorne, Arsha Samsaminia, Judith Adler de Oliveira, Jaime Reis et Mariana Vieira
 

Friday 24 January, La Tricoterie

20h Trio Eräama

Musicians : Akiko Okawa (violon), Quentin Meurisse (Piano et électronique), Cédric de Bruycker (Clarinettes)

To mark the end of their residency at the Forum de la Création Musicale, the Eräama trio presents a program of creations by Forum composers in a concert of acoustic and mixed music.

Works by Jinwook Jung, Fanny Libert, Denis Bosse, David Achenberg
 

Thursday 30 January, Le Senghor

20h Les gens qui partent

Performance by and with Albane Tamagna (Flute)

A 50-minute sound performance exploring the complexity of emotions linked to territories, movements and identities, combining flutes, electronics and personal accounts.

Teaser:   https://youtu.be/orQ_E6T-wHw?si=kHJBarfXo-CpyS2E

Cast and crew:
Albane Tamagna - concept and interpretation
Gilles Doneux, Willfrido Terrazas, and Albane Tamagna - composition
Sami Tedeschi - sound and lighting design
Fabien Prieto - lighting design
Ambre Tamagna and Roxane Hardy - choreography and staging
 

Friday 31 January, La Tricoterie

20h In, um und um herum

Piano : Thérèse Malengreau

A piano recital which includes many pieces : 

Jean-Pierre DELEUZE, Cloches dans la brume
Ingrid DRESE, Bleu Miroir pour piano et bande
Karlheinz ESSL, Prends le Fa
Jacqueline FONTYN, Moon Drops (3 des 6 pièces)
Luisa Maria ALVAREZ ARMESTO, Twin Sisters pour piano et bande
Benet CASABLANCAS, 5 Haikus
Sarah WERY, Amour cafard maison
Victor KISSINE, Papageno
Sophie LACAZE, Pluton
Joanna BAILIE, Marblepark pour piano et électronique

Saturday 1 February, Project(ion) Room

20h Nothing stands in the way of night

A double evening dedicated to mixed and electroacoustic music.

First part with the Centre Henri Pousseur presenting two augmented soloists: François Couvreur on electric guitar and Benjamin Maneyrol on bass clarinet.

Works by David Achenberg, Zeno Baldi, Stefan Hejdrowski, Alithéa Ripoll.

Second part by members of FeBeME-BeFEM, who spatialize electroacoustic music.
 

Sunday 2 February, Le Baixu

11h and 14h CRIC CRAC (kids 6+)

Mira and Mireille lead a perfectly peaceful life. Digging galleries, building, dismantling. In the dark, underground, the moles find their way.
When they find themselves suddenly evicted from their homes following the construction of a supermarket, there's only one solution: mobilization!

With original text by Aurélien Dony and music by Max Charue, a contemporary, ecological and poetic tale.
Running time: 45 minutes

Aurélien Dony - Original text
Max Charue - music, artistic direction and actor
Kamel Benac - stage director 
Emmanuelle Musset - assistant director 
Julie Debaene - lighting design and scenography
Ensemble 21 musicians:
Pauline Oreins - accordion
Kaja Farszky - percussion 
Merryl Havard Alexandre - cello
Benjamin Maneyrol - clarinets
 

Thursday 6 February, Le Senghor

20h La nuit est une folie rouge

Piano : Stéphane Ginsburgh

Exploration and solo journeys have always been the hallmarks of pianist Stephane Ginsburgh. At the heart of this program of discoveries are two rediscoveries. The first is Denis Pousseur's great literary-inspired masterpiece cycle “La Nuit est une folie rouge” (1998-99), all too rarely heard and for which this will be the first complete performance since its creation almost 25 years ago. The second, “The Unforgettable Fire” (1984) by Jean-Louis Libert, is also the work of a composer who has been too discreet for many years. They will resonate with the creations of two young female composers and one male composer: Oren Boneh with a whirling “Brick for Stone”, Sarah Defrise with “Dead Parrot nr. 1” challenging the performer's immediate memory, and “Welcome” a piece of musical theater by Fanny Libert. To introduce this magnificent program, Stéphane Ginsburg chose Nanosonatas Book VI, a very personal, not to say “family”, work by one of his favorite composers, Frédéric Rzewski, composed of pieces dedicated to his children.  

Works by Oren Boneh, Jean-Louis Libert, Fanny Libert, Sarah Defrise, Denis Pousseur et Frédéric Rzewski