From Friday 20 to Sunday 22 June 2025, Oostende will be the setting for the FLOW Festival, a three-day encounter with polyphony in all its forms. With concerts at special locations, conversations, lectures and a generous dose of curiosity about the world around us, Dionysos Now! invites the public not only to listen, but also to think, taste and participate.
The opening takes place in the impressive Petrus- en Pauluskerk, where voices from the Renaissance combine with the rhythms of a midi-controlled organ. Dionysos Now! and Maxime Denuc present a concert in complete darkness, a collaboration with vzw Rien à Voir, in which the senses are sharpened and sound takes centre stage. It is not an everyday listening experience — and that is precisely what makes it an intriguing start to the weekend.
On Saturday morning, Psallentes performs a selection of Gregorian chants from the abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier in the entrance hall of the Kursaal. A hushed morning sound, here and there with a touch of polyphony. Immediately afterwards, Kurt Van Eeghem sheds light on Oostende's musical life during the Belle Époque in a lecture, with musical interludes on piano by Iskander Moens.
In the afternoon, the festival moves to De Grote Post. There, Dionysos Now! gives the public an active introduction to the foundations of polyphony. Who's afraid of polyphony? is not a classical concert, but a participatory session where you learn how polyphony works, sounds and even becomes tangible.
Subsequently, a public debate translates the polyphony of music into society. Polyphony, Philosophy and Democracy brings together voices from the academic, cultural and political world. Among others, Jean-Claude Burgelman, Christophe Busch, Petra De Sutter, Katia Segers and Anne Laure Léger are at the table.
On Saturday evening, music from the 15th-century Old Hall Manuscript sounds in the Kapucijnenkerk. The Norwegian Trio Mediæval and Catalina Vicens (organetto) bring forgotten voices to life, supplemented with works by contemporary composers.
On Sunday morning, the festival closes with Apero Poëzie at the Thermae Palace. Actor Tijmen Govaerts and writer Hans Depelchin converse with Tore Tom Denys about music, the sea, taste and language. In between, music by Adriaen Willaert and his contemporaries sounds, alternating with poetry by Bart Moeyaert and texts by Caroline Pauwels, read by Louise Bergez. Illustrator Gerda Dendooven draws live.
FLOW is not a classical music festival in the traditional sense. It is an invitation to listen in a different way — and at the same time to look, speak, taste and think.
All information and tickets can be found at www.degrotepost.be and www.dionysosnow.com.