I SOLISTI / Filip Rathé

Any reason is a good reason to focus attention on the oeuvre of Karel Goeyvaerts. Fortunately this time there’s no escaping it: in 2023 the Antwerp-based composer would have turned 100. Unknown to the general public, in the 1950s Goeyvaerts was a trailblazer in the development of both serialism and electronic music. But there is far more to discover than his groundbreaking experiments. From the 1960s onwards he was less of an initiator, but he continued to follow the latest developments from a distance.

Under the direction of Filip Rathé, I SOLISTI presents a series of highlights from the no less surprising late oeuvre of Goeyvaerts. Litanie I is a beautiful example of Goeyvaerts’ idiosyncratic take on minimalism. The last ten years of his life were occupied with the large-scale opera Aquarius, two fragments of which are performed here. Aquarius premiered at DE SINGEL in 1993, a few months after Goeyvaerts' passing. Creations by Benjamin Van Esser and Tim Mulleman complete this more than fitting homage to an undervalued artist.