ALSO SPRACH RILKE

An enchanting poetic journey through the sublime poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, set to music in the form of cantatas of an entirely new kind by Claude Evence Janssens, performed by soprano Clara Inglese, baritone Kris Belligh, and the Sturm und Klang ensemble, conducted by Thomas Van Haeperen.

Addressing a broad audience as well as younger generations, Also sprach Rilke was conceived in anticipation of two major commemorations: the 150th anniversary of the poet’s birth in 2025 and the centenary of his death in 2026.

Claude Evence Janssens’s composition creates a bridge between contemporary classical music and musical forms influenced by non-European cultures. It embraces a highly accessible fusion of genres, performed by a singer, a vocalist, and a classically trained instrumental ensemble, enriched by electronic sounds and samples drawn from the vocabularies of urban music, trip-hop, ambient, and electro.

Projected poetry and the visual art of André Fromont expand the work into a multisensory experience, in which music, image, and text intertwine in harmony.

Clara Inglese, soprano

Kris Belligh, baritone

Thomas Van Haeperen, conductor

Sturm und Klang Ensemble

Michaël Scoriels, violin – Akiko Okawa, viola – Catherine Lebrun, cello

Sze-Fong Yeong, French horn – Mavroudes Troullos, bassoon – Jona Kesteleyn, guitar

Fabian Coomans, piano – Jean-Louis Maton, percussion – Quentin Meurisse, electronics

In partnership with the Department of Germanic Studies and the Department of Musicology