On Saturday, August 23, the annual International Young Artist's Presentation (IYAP) took place at AMUZ, an initiative of Musica Impulscentrum and AMUZ. This special event brings together young ensembles who venture into early music, where young talent connects with the timeless power of sound. It is not a competition, but a meeting between times, voices and silences, between young souls and old worlds.
In the days preceding the concert, the young musicians were intensively guided by mentors such as Lore Binon and Peter Van Heyghen. They worked not only on technical skills, but also helped the musicians discover the deeper essence of the music. This resulted in six concentrated concerts, each a good half hour, in which the soul of each ensemble unfolded — fragile, powerful and always genuine.
The program composition and the order of the concerts were carefully chosen. Each ensemble fitted perfectly into the whole, with a dynamic that beautifully expressed the diversity of early music. The technicians deserve special mention for their expert work: after each concert, the stage was quickly and professionally prepared for the next ensemble, ensuring smooth transitions.
The choreography of the ensembles was also striking. It was clear that every group had given careful thought to how they would visually present their concert: from entering the stage to the interaction between the musicians and the lighting. All these small, but thoughtfully conceived details contributed to a deeper experience of the music and held the audience's attention, even in the silences between the notes. Thus the performance became not only a matter of sound, but also of movement – a harmonious interplay of senses.
10:00 – Café 1830: A Call to Exploration
The day opened soberly with Café 1830, a duo that with clarinet (Marguerite Neves) and guitar (Élodie Bruzstowski) evoked an intimate salon atmosphere – as if we were slipping into a 19th-century drawing room concert. The unusual combination of clarinet and guitar proved surprisingly effective as an opening: their performance was cheerful, aroused curiosity and immediately created a desire for more. A charming detail was the greeting in Dutch by Neves, with which the duo immediately created a warm connection with the audience.
Neves' historical clarinet distinguished itself through a warm, round tone that gave every phrase a poetic glow. Bruzstowski's romantic guitar whispered almost – a subtle, refined accompaniment that left room for nuance and expression. Together they conducted a musical conversation in which technical finesse went hand in hand with emotional openness.
The Sonata Concertata by Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) danced past with light-footed virtuosity – like a musical note, hastily jotted down in the travel diary of a romantic. The phrasing remained airy and clear, with carefully built dynamics that repeatedly evoked a sense of intimacy.
The two Waltzes opus 69 by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) evoked the melancholy of Romanticism, with their harmonic richness and elegant lines. Here Bruzstowski showed her sensitivity for colour and detail, while Neves let her clarinet sing with a soft melancholy. The Schwanenlied by Fanny Hensel (1805-1847) became a quiet meditation, borne by nostalgia and mild sadness – a voice from the past that found its way to the present.
Notably, only one work on the program, the sparkling Serenade by Iwan Müller (1786-1854), was originally written for this instrumentation. The other pieces were the duo's own arrangements of beloved works from the early 19th century. These arrangements, carefully and sensitively worked out, proved that this sound combination could also convince outside the existing repertoire.
The excerpts from the Serenade, which framed both the beginning and end of the recital, brought a lively lightness – an ode to the small gesture. With delicate articulations and transparent texture, it became a miniature full of meaning: small in scope, grand in significance.
What made the duo special was the audible connection. They were perfectly attuned to each other, played virtuously without bravura, and radiated pleasure in their interplay and in their interaction with the audience. The program offered a varied selection that not only showcased their technical skill, but also their musical imagination.
In the intimate setting of Café 1830, time seemed to stand still for a moment. This was more than a series of performances – it was an invitation to discovery, a shared journey along forgotten sounds and new perspectives. The musicians were not mere performers, but fellow travellers in the music, with room for spontaneity, dialogue and wonder.
Café 1830 left you wanting more. In this musical salon, you would happily sit a while longer.
11:00 – Auroras Mestizas: Where European Baroque and Latin American Passion Meet
Auroras Mestizas overwhelmed the audience with an ocean of emotions and a palette of sounds that was both stormy and subtle. Under the motto Love, despite divine storms the ensemble brought baroque music from Europe and Latin America together in a fascinating, deeply felt dialogue between two worlds. The programmatic richness and emotional layering touched the audience from the first note.
Although we travelled back two centuries in time, that was no obstacle: the programme was beautifully varied, with well-known European composers alongside largely unknown Latin American names — it was precisely these latter that provided the greatest surprise. From the first note, the ensemble knew how to take you along on a story; a contagious musical journey that gave the impression that you would gladly travel with them to Latin America to discover even more intriguing works.
The ensemble opened with the Adagio from the Violin Sonata in g, opus 5 no. 5 by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713). This restrained yet charged opening immediately revealed the musical affinity and refined phrasing of the group. The warm sound and precise intonation gently drew the audience into the atmosphere, like the first wave of a promising storm.
Next, a thematically rich programme unfolded in which European and Latin American baroque flowed seamlessly into one another. The rarely performed Cantata De aquel immenso mar by Roque Ceruti (1683-1760) formed a first highlight. Soprano Edilsa Samanez gave this cantata a moving interpretation, with a voice that was both deeply felt and rhetorically strong. Her powerful yet vulnerable voice expressed the paradox of love — storm and silence — palpably. She switched effortlessly between intense, passionate passages and whisper-soft moments of restraint, bringing the immense sea of the title to life.
Samanez moved the audience deeply with her intense and expressive voice. Around her resounded a rich orchestration of theorbo, viola da gamba, harpsichord and strings, which swept the audience along in a rolling sound sea. Each instrument contributed to a colourful tapestry of textures, which not only radiated Baroque splendour, but also the fiery emotion of Latin American roots.
In Affetuoso from the Sinfonia da camera in e, opus 2 no. 5 by Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) a tender hush sounded, sustained by the string ensemble with harmonic subtlety. The balance between melodic simplicity and expressive depth was carefully maintained, with a central role for Jose Huamani on viola da gamba, whose playing served as a grounding undercurrent that emotionally anchored the music.
The aria Aiutatemi a morire from the cantata Olimpia by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) brought Samanez with poignant intensity. Her dramatic versatility came fully into its own here: every note laden with meaning, every silence spoke volumes. The sensitive accompaniment of theorbo player Giorgios Kakitsis provided rhythmic clarity and harmonic depth to this heartbreaking performance.
A playful and light-footed contrast followed with the Sarabande. Largo from the Duo in D for two violins, opus 12 no. 3 by Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764). Violinists Sophie Paeshuyse and Maria Florencia Romero wove a lively, intimate dialogue full of dancelike energy, without sacrificing stylistic finesse.
The climax came with the recitative and aria from Mariposa de sus rayos by José de Orejón y Aparicio (1705-1765). Here text, sound and feeling came together. Samanez brought the melancholic beauty of this Latin American Baroque composer to life with heartbreaking intensity. The ensemble played as one breathing organism, with the harpsichord playing of Vasco da Silva Pereira standing out for its colourful articulation, stylistic refinement and rhythmic drive. His subtle ornamentations gave the music a touch of flamboyance that emphasised the Latin American roots.
The programme presented works by among others José de Orejón y Aparicio (1706–1765) and Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726), composers whose music is often less well-known, but which came to life here in an impressive way. The music worked like a heartbeat beneath threatening clouds, with sounds that reflected the fragility of existence whilst at the same time underlining the unwavering power of feeling.
The strength of Auroras Mestizas lies not only in the individual qualities of the musicians, but also in the coherent, heartfelt structure of the programme. The alternation between well-known and lesser-known works, between European Baroque and Latin American influences, provided a rich listening experience in which contrast and continuity complemented each other perfectly. The ensemble demonstrated strong musicality, feeling, enthusiasm and visible enjoyment of playing. Their interaction — such as smiling at each other during the performance — showed that they themselves enjoyed it enormously.
Auroras Mestizas created an intensely personal and at the same time universal experience: a powerful exploration of love, loss and hope that gripped the listener from beginning to end and lingered long afterwards. The conclusion was as poignant as the beginning: a musical release that was both intense and restrained. The final sounds seemed to resonate in the silence of the hall — a silence saturated with emotion and feeling.
12.00 – Les Trouveurs: An intimate journey through time and sound
Les Trouveurs — the French duo Mathias Lunghi and Camille Macinenti — took the audience on an almost meditative journey. They brought no echo from the past, but performed a lively conversation between kindred spirits. With medieval trouvère songs from Northern France they whispered age-old stories, in which love songs and tales of love, chivalry and the human condition took center stage, carried by voices that transcended time and space. The ensemble did not seek virtuosity, but wove subtle sounds into a delicate dance between listening and speaking, with each note revealing a fragile truth.
Without instrumental accompaniment, a rich human expression unfolded. The songs of Adam de la Halle (1245/50–1285/88), often seen as the last great trouvère, sounded like tangible memories — echoes that bridged the gap between past and present. Love, that eternal yearning in the heart of the lover, came alive again and became tangible, like a whisper that resounds undiminished through the centuries. With a delicate balance between restraint and emotion, the text seemed to float in the space, like precious pearls of meaning and feeling.
The carefully compiled program led to a powerful climax, in which alongside Adam de la Halle, works by Philippe de Remi (1210–1265), Thibault de Champagne (1201–1253), Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300–1377) and some anonymous songs were performed. Together they offered a poetic quest for the timeless answer to the question: what is love?
The interpretation of On demande mout souvent qu'est amours by de la Halle at the end of the concert transformed the rhetorical question into a whispered prayer, an intimate plea that took the breath away from the room. In that moment, music became the language of the soul and time seemed to stand still for a moment. It was a rare encounter — pure, deep and moving.
What made this performance so special was the sincerity and simplicity with which the duo approached medieval music. Sometimes it sounded like polyphonic voices embracing each other, then again monophonic with subtle harmonies, each time imbued with respect and love for the material. It felt as if you were sitting by the fireplace of a medieval castle, surrounded by warm, personal sounds that touched the heart.
The serene atmosphere was only briefly disturbed by a ringing mobile phone, but with their professionalism the duo quickly restored the spell. In addition to singing, passages from Li ver de le mort by Adam de la Halle were also read, in the original pronunciation of medieval French, which contributed to the historical authenticity.
With this enchanting concert, Les Trouveurs demonstrated that classical music is more than perfection — it is a living whisper that touches the soul and never truly falls silent.
14.00 – Fortepiano Atelier: an elegant journey to the past
With an enchanting concert full of romantic chamber music on historical instruments, the Polish Fortepiano Atelier opened its doors. In this intimate setting, time seemed to stand still and we got a lively, tangible glimpse of the nineteenth century. The ensemble from Kraków, consisting of young, passionate musicians, brought a refined performance of the Piano Quintet in E-flat, opus 44 by Robert Schumann (1810–1856) — a gripping ode to early Romanticism.
The ensemble consisted of Eliza Pawłowska on a historical fortepiano, accompanied by violinists Szymon Strzelczyk (violin), Bartłomiej Fras (violin), Natalia Reichert (viola) and Matylda Adamus (cello).
The fortepiano — with its light touch and intimate sound — entered into a subtle, yet powerful dialogue with the strings. The instrument whispered with a transparency and warmth that made Schumann's spirit tangible. Each keystroke seemed like a thought, each resonance a breath. In this performance, each part of the quintet gained a pronounced character, carefully attended to in every detail.
The Allegro brillante opened clear and lively. Pawłowska's light, directly engaging touch gave the fast passages a sparkling suppleness that might otherwise be lost on a modern grand piano. No monumental rhetoric, but a lively conversation — elegant, intimate, and always musically balanced.
The second movement, In modo d'una marcia, brought a restrained solemnity. The limited resonance of the fortepiano allowed each silence and breath to resonate. The strings sounded like fragile voices of memory; the piano part breathed a melancholy that moved precisely through its simplicity.
The scherzo (Molto vivace) worked like a flashing spark: playful, unpredictable and crystal clear. The light action of the keyboard let the virtuosic figures pass by sharply yet playfully. The contrasting trios brought breathing space: lyrical, almost singing, in which piano and strings embraced each other in soft contours.
The finale (Allegro ma non troppo) formed an organic climax. The fugue-like structure unfolded with crystal clarity, with a transparency in which every voice remained audible. Yet there was no dry formalism: the warmth of the interplay gave the music back its humanity. The closing passage sounded like a sigh of completion — satisfied, but not exhausted.
Between the pieces, the Allegro agitato from the First String Quartet by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819–1872) sounded unexpectedly — a brief, yet expressive interruption. This national lyricism, carried by the four strings, wove an exciting play of contrasts. Accents and phrasings rippled over each other, as on a calm yet undercurrent turbulent sea. Although this fragment was thematically related to Schumann's language, it felt like a side path within a carefully constructed arc of tension. Nevertheless, this work too was brought with finesse and conviction.
What made this concert so special was the intimate fusion of sound and time. The fortepiano, with its fragile and transparent sound, found in the rich warmth of the strings an ideal conversation partner. Here sounded no academic reconstruction, but a living breath of romanticism.
The Fortepiano Atelier brought the past not only to life — it let us dwell in it, for a moment, in silence and beauty.
15.00 – Pont Baroque: a sunny dive into Italian Baroque
Pont Baroque brought a brilliant interpretation of southern baroque music from Rome and Naples. The compositions of Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Leonardo Vinci (1696?-1730), Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1763) and Gaetano Carpani (1692-1785) combined melodious splendor with refined rhetoric. These pieces immersed the audience in the vivid drama and temperament of Italian Baroque, where every note seemed to tell a story.
Soprano Alison Lau stood central to this musical dialogue. Her dramatic and expressive presence slowly unveiled the deeper layers of the music. Her warm and sunny voice captivated from beginning to end, with a special revelation in the final work, in which her rich vocal capacities came to the fore in full glory. It was undeniable how the audience was swept along by her interpretation. Her crystal-pure 'o-o-o's' and 'a-a-a's' were truly grandiose. These moments were like a discovery of pure musicality, leaving you speechless at the mastery and strength that she brought with such refinement. She was fantastically supported by the ensemble, which made the interplay into a gem. That ensemble consisted of the musicians: Alison Lau (soprano), Aysha Willis (traverso), Riccardo Casamichiela (harpsichord) and Osian Jones (cello and artistic direction).
The program opened with Scarlatti's aria Ardo è ver per te d'amore, a pearl from the early Italian Baroque repertoire. Scarlatti, one of the great masters of Neapolitan Baroque, framed the passionate intensity of the text masterfully. Lau gave the piece a dramatic and at the same time intimate dimension. Her voice moved both fragile and powerful through the ornamentation, with a subtle understanding of Scarlatti's rhetorical style. Every musical embellishment reinforced the emotions of the text, while the interplay with the ensemble sounded subtle and warm.
This was followed by Vinci's Flute Sonata No. 1 in D. Vinci, a contemporary of Scarlatti, demonstrated his mastery here in the light, elegant style of Neapolitan Baroque. Willis brought the sonata with striking lightness and technical virtuosity, in which graceful melodies and flowing passages expressed the galant style effectively. The flute sonata enchanted through its alternation between liveliness and restraint, with moments of playful sparkle and at the same time reserved, refined melodies. Harpsichord and cello were perfectly attuned to this playfulness, making the whole sound clear and lively. The musicians radiated technical skill and musical enthusiasm, with the ensemble working in harmonious synergy.
Next came the recitative and aria from Hasse's cantata Quel vago seno, o Fille. Hasse, known for his refined operatic style, balances here between German seriousness and Italian passion. The recitative was brought in a natural, speech-like singing manner, making the story vivid. In the aria, Lau made a true spectacle of the piece. Her singing was graceful and compelling, while the traverso subtly and intimately breathed along with her vocal lines. This close interaction between voice and instruments brought Hasse's emotional balance convincingly to life.
The program closed with the cantata Quator per erme selve by Gaetano Carpani. This fantastic work was a discovery for me. Carpani, less well-known but fascinating as a representative of Roman Baroque, shows here his talent in a composition rich in harmonic colors and expressive melodies. His style contains a lively dialogue between voices and instruments, with the drama subtly building up. The ensemble brought this with balanced expression, whereby the harmonies and interaction between instruments and voice stood in fine, natural tension. This cantata formed a fitting and inspiring final chord that underscored the diversity and richness of Italian Baroque.
What made this concert so special was not only the technical virtuosity, but especially the fire and spontaneity with which the music came to life. The tight, often theatrical Baroque structures gained a fresh, almost physical presence. The interaction between the instruments was refined: the soft lines of the traverso were subtly interrupted by the sharply articulated harpsichord, while cello and soprano gently supported each other. Every phrase sounded like a sunset in sound: drenched in passion, elegance and Mediterranean warmth.
Pont Baroque proved that Baroque music, despite its complex architecture and expressive freedom, in the hands of young, talented musicians not only remains faithful to its origins, but also acquires a contemporary lustre. This concert was a convincing dialogue with the Baroque – daring, dramatic and sparkling with life.
16.00 - [H]Éros Ensemble: a poetic embrace of 17th-century French court music
The final chord of an intense, emotion-laden day was set sublimely by the [H]Éros Ensemble. This ensemble took the audience to the court of Eros, where love and desire unfolded in a delicate dance of sounds and words, in which each moment became a whisper of tenderness. The carefully curated programme, brought to life by instruments and voices, led the listener along the winding paths of 17th-century French court life, where love translated into a refined seduction game, with the Baroque as the perfect canvas for the subtle allegories of desire.
Works by, among others, Étienne Moulinié (1599-1676), Jean Boyer (ca. 1600-1640) and Antoine de Boësset (1587-1643) unfolded with whispering grace, carried by the singers Sofia Pedro (soprano), Ana Parejo (soprano), Gabriel Belkheiri Garcia del Pozon (tenor) and Wessel van der Ham (bass), and the instrumentalists MengHan Wu (violin), Adriana Mendez Fernandez (tenor viola da gamba), Xander Baker (bass viola da gamba), Giuseppe Ciraso-Calì (violone), Rafael Arjona Ruz (theorbo and Baroque guitar) and Katerina Orfanoudaki (harpsichord). Together they wove a tender, almost poetic dance, in which the instrumental accompaniment formed the perfect sound tapestry to subtly support and enrich the melodies and texts.
The voices of the soloists gave the music extraordinary clarity, a connection of vulnerability and strength that brought out both the playful and melancholic aspects of the music. Sofia Pedro and Ana Parejo gave their sopranos an ethereal, dreamy quality that made desire and love almost tangible. Gabriel Belkheiri Garcia del Pozon as tenor and Wessel van der Ham as bass filled the sound picture with a warm depth that reinforced the emotional charge of the songs. In their interpretations, they balanced effortlessly between irony and seriousness, between the unspoken and the explicit. The diversity of their voices created an intense chemistry that made the music both intimate and universal.
The instrumental ensemble complemented this vocal palette with an excellent sense of timing and tone colour. MengHan Wu's violin sounded like a refined rose in the sound tapestry and brought the melodies to life with an extremely elegant grace. Adriana Mendez Fernandez' tenor viola da gamba, Xander Baker's bass viola da gamba and Giuseppe Ciraso-Calì's violone provided a solid yet flexible foundation on which the melodies could bloom like flowers. Rafael Arjona Ruz' theorbo gave the music extra layers of subtlety and refinement, with sparkling ornaments that complemented the music without disturbing the fragile balance. Katerina Orfanoudaki's harpsichord formed the heart of the ensemble, her fingers gliding over the keys like the soft touch of a love letter, her sounds the ingenious reflections of desire.
The programme opened with Entrée du ballet by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), a lively dance that invited the audience to move, a first hint of the playful energy that would run through the concert. Next, Concert de différens oiseaux by Moulinié brought an idyllic pastoral atmosphere, with birds evoking, through subtle imitation, an imagination of nature. In Quelles beautés, ô mortels by de Boësset, a lyrical hymn to the beauty of human existence unfolded, suffused with a subtle melancholy that would also manifest itself later in Sa beauté estresme by Jean Boyer, in which unreachable beauty sang of the sorrow of the unreachable. The fragile reverence that the composers expressed for the transience of love also came strongly to the fore in Boësset's Cesse mortel d'importuner, in which temptation and seduction gave way to a plea for mercy.
In Départ, que le devoir by Boësset, the sense of farewell was touched upon again, in a moment of unspoken pain, which the musicians performed with an intensity that made the audience literally fall silent in the space. The deliverance sung in Me voilà hors du naufrage by Charles Tessier (1550-1604) alluded to an emotional shipwreck, from which the characters found their way out of the storm. All of this culminated in the deep, reflective Mon amy s'en est allé by Jacques Mangeant (1571-1639), in which the loss of love was sung, silently and almost hushed, in a final moment of melancholy and surrender.
The performance was infused with unprecedented care and musical refinement. The programme was much more than a succession of isolated compositions: it became a lived story, in which love, desire and transience in 17th-century French court culture were given voice and made tangible.
In this final moment, performers and audience came together in a refined, meaningful dialogue between past and present, sound and desire, which elevated the concert experience to a higher level. It was an unparalleled poetic embrace – an unmistakable testimony to the power of music to revive the past in the present.
A sound journey through time
Thus the day unfolded as a sensory symphony in six portraits.
Café 1830 whispered nuances of long-forgotten times.
Auroras Mestizas flooded the space with moving emotion.
Les Trouveurs brought silence to sing, with deep devotion.
Fortepiano Atelier revived romanticism in its original, vibrant colours.
Pont Baroque shone with fiery flair, full of energy and splendour.
[H]Éros Ensemble closed with a refined dance of longing and sound, a subtle yet powerful blending of old and new.
IYAP is not a competition, it is a dialogue: between eras, between voices, between worlds that touch each other, challenge each other and mutually enrich one another. Each concert brought something unique: a sound, a question, a moment of connection. Sometimes, in the silence between breath and resonance, that connection became tangible.
There are no winners, only worlds that open up, like a polyphonic tale that knows no end. A day in which music was not only heard, but also experienced — as the echo of a future that revealed itself to us through the past.
From each concert you take memories with you, for each ensemble had its own magic and story. You don't have to choose what was best, because every performance was unique in its own way. The musicality of each group left you speechless, as if it had captured the very breath in the room.
The future of classical music is in good hands. The passionate performances of today's musicians brought us, with their refinement and daring, to new horizons.
I hope we can welcome each ensemble again soon on the stage of AMUZ, and I wish all musicians a flourishing future.