He, that's Bart Debbaut. Who? Bart Debbaut, some know him as a merchant, others know him as the author of a series of crime novels and now a few hundred know him as a pianist who might well have become a pianist after all…
Let me get straight to the point, because a piano concerto, and Mozart at that – nothing is more fragile – you don't bring to the stage in no time. Courage, willpower, perseverance and above all love for Beauty gave a result that transcended amateurism. Hats off!
Bart Debbaut drew inspiration for this initiative from Thomas Vanderveken with his 'Thomas Speelt het Hard', still fairly fresh in many people's memory. It was Debbaut's sweet boyish dream to one day be able to play Mozart's 17th, if not another piano concerto. Getting started was a different kettle of fish: Bart is a businessman, has a family and writes books. Thanks to following the entire saga surrounding Thomas Vanderveken and his piano concerto, Bart knew: he would, like Thomas, ask Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort to coach him. And so it happened. Only Bart didn't have the same resources, both financially and logistically and in terms of media, as Thomas. It became a local event with an amateur orchestra, but no less intense for that. It became more than a year of study with the strict, but fair piano teacher we regularly get to meet on the concert podiums: Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort.
Sunday, February 24th, the moment had come. The Heilig Hartkerk in Tienen was packed with Bart's most loyal and fanatical supporters: wife and children first and foremost, family, friends, acquaintances, sympathizers and 'ordinary' music lovers. And there, dear readers, I was among them. Not knowing what I would hear, but with sympathy for the initiative and realizing that Thomas Vanderveken had set something in motion. I remain convinced that it is particularly good for classical music what he did with Thomas Speelt het Hard.
Just before the concert begins, a tough self-confident Bart Debbaut says to anyone who wants to listen: "I'm really not nervous". I laugh up my sleeve, but don't say what I'm thinking: "It will be different on stage in about a quarter of an hour"… Was it different? Oh yes, for a moment the nerves took over, but it didn't last long. Bart Debbaut proved that practice makes perfect. We heard a Mozart concerto that an average professional doesn't necessarily play better in terms of intonation and phrasing. Oh yes, Bart doesn't have the same dash on the piano as the seasoned soloist, but that wasn't the point, the point was to realize a dream and that succeeded completely. More than that, I dare say it's a shame that Bart Debbaut didn't play piano for 30 years because otherwise we would have had a concert pianist in him.
THE concert pianist was there and not only as Bart Debbaut's coach. Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort played an unforgettable Bénéction de Dieu dans la Solitude by Franz Liszt. What fullness as a musician, what empathy, what honest interpretation, putting himself aside to let Liszt himself speak. Great!, a qualitatively high-standard piano playing that has world-class merit. The romantic in Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort reveals itself in this work which you can also listen to on the pianist's latest cd (Franz Liszt, Reflections, released by Et'Cetera, KTC1631).
The Limburgs Kamerorkest put their best foot forward with the opening work Scene 1 from Swan Lake by Peter Tsjaikovski, the Overture La Princesse Jaune by Camille Saint-Saëns and with pianist Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort Manuel de Falla's Danze Ritual from Al Amor Brujo.
Many satisfied hearts went home, not only Bart Debbaut who pulled it off after all, but look and behold, also the Cancer Support Point Tienen because it received the proceeds from the concert. It was the intention from the beginning to donate the proceeds to a good cause. The association received no less than 2,500 euros!
- WHAT: Bart plays Mozart
- WHO: Bart Debbaut, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Limburgs Kamerorkest
- WHERE & WHEN: Heilig Hartkerk Tienen, 24 February 2019
- PHOTOS: Laurent-Nadine