Throughout the year, talented young musicians from home and abroad study here. They are young artists in residence who can perfect their musical education under the guidance of professional top musicians. They attend masterclasses here. This number kept growing and in 2015 a modern new building was added, at the back of the Muziekkapel.
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Muziekkapel 1939 (left), new building 2015 (right)[/caption]
There students could live with more comfort, in 25 studios with perfect sound insulation where they could rehearse freely without disturbing each other. New musical disciplines were added and that further increased the appeal of this international music campus with a growing number of applicants as a result. What now?
The solution came from a generous holding company. The SPDG holding of the Périer-D'Ieteren family - primarily invested in sectors such as sustainability - purchased the Domein van Argenteuil and makes it available to the Muziekkapel for a minimum of 40 years. They want to "strengthen the possibilities of the Koningin Elisabeth Muziekkapel and support the education of musical excellence". Immediately, the historic site of the Muziekkapel could be expanded with 136 hectares and the residential capacity could simply be doubled.
No more iron bars or ugly sight screens between the two adjacent estates: a newly laid dolomite path runs from behind the new building of the Muziekkapel to the castle. On foot it takes twenty minutes and you walk peacefully along this path, lined with stately beeches, maples, conifers, all with an understory of ferns and brambles, a truly woodland environment. You do it listening to chirping birds and - very much in the distance - the dull roar of busy traffic on the Brussels Ring Road. You have to accept that and so you walk into the castle of Argenteuil.
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Kasteel van Argenteuil[/caption]
A castle in full renovation because the new MuCH season starts in mid-September (MuChapel), the concert and events program of the Muziekkapel. Of course you can also reach the estate via the old access road, along the beautiful platane avenue. Greenery everywhere, a large part is moreover a protected Natura 2000 zone. Next to the reception area there will be 19 fully equipped rooms for residents and common spaces: lounges for organizing masterclasses such as in the large hall where Leopold III once showed his own filmed documentaries, a reception room that becomes a concert hall, a library, the large and comfortable kitchen where young residents can cook their own meals, relaxation areas. In any case, many possibilities to create the same convivial atmosphere for the students here as what they know from the historic building nearby.
New director Gregor Chapelle also likes to emphasize interdisciplinarity in the education of his students: future artists must broaden their horizons. Between the range of existing departments (violin, piano, cello, voice, viola and chamber music) there must be more collaboration and exchange. Three things are paramount: "convivialité" as he likes to call it, excellence in studies and all of this enriched by this unique natural setting.
Not for nothing does the upcoming concert program of MuCH bear the title "Utopia", says artistic director Anne-Lise Parotte "because ultimately all of this becomes a realized utopia."
The starting shot falls on 15 September. As a foretaste of those concerts, those present at this press visit received a small recital by two residents, violinist Esther Yang and pianist Kojiro Okada, the Mozart Sonata K.454. An authentic anecdote about this? For the premiere, Mozart didn't have time to write down the piano score and played it entirely from memory…