After a year of intense brainstorming sessions, long café visits and mountains of emails back and forth, it's finally here. On Sunday 5 November 2023, the new concert series veelbeLEUVENd opens in Leuven with the sparkling Brandenburgs Concerto No. 3 BWV 1048 in G and the spectacular Bachconcert BWV 1065 in A minor, for which twenty musicians and no fewer than four Steinways will stand on stage. The seven-part series was compiled by five young pianists, a violinist and a horn player who (with one exception) are also performers at one or more concerts. They play together with friends and acquaintances who were almost all born in the 21st century and who have a Leuven connection (studying, living or born there) such as the Meraki Wind Quintet and the Tinel Ensemble.
NEW
Competitions in which young musicians can present themselves to the public are plentiful, slightly older professional musicians sometimes take the financial risk and organize one-off (house) concerts on their own initiative, but a longer-running project in which young people run the show together with a cultural center from the grassroots is, to the best of our knowledge, unprecedented.
AnnickDumalin, programmer at 30CC: "I won't claim we've invented the wheel, but to my knowledge other cultural centers don't do this. 30CC has had several years of experience with a new programming methodology, the so-called co-programming or circular working, in which residents of the city, such as students or community centers, independently fill in a program. Performances that come about this way are known to our audience under the name 'de Curatoren'. The concept of veelbeLEUVENd thus fits seamlessly with something we already know, the young musicians are a team of curators who put together a concert series. By the way, it wasn't my or our idea, it was pianist Lenny Bui-Vandeput who came up with it abundantly late last summer and managed to warm us up to it. Two weeks later we were already at the table, Lenny assembled a team around him and work could begin. We gave them carte blanche and voilà here they are with a full-fledged chamber music concert series from Bach to the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen".
[video width="3840" height="2160" mp4="https://klassiek-centraal.be/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/veelbeleuvend-vergadering-1.01.mp4"][/video]The young musicians do not bear the financial responsibility and for logistical support they can count on the city of Leuven, which provides rooms among other things, but otherwise they have carried the series from beginning to end.
How important is this now for them, what does it mean for their career planning?
Lenny Bui-Vandeput: "That will be a bit different for everyone. Some musicians from our team, Brecht and Jonathan to name a few, or An-Sofie who is concertmaster during the first concert, are already doing well in the circuit and have many assignments, their names are no longer unknown. For them, this extra chance for exposure is welcome, for others it's essential."
Kirsten Gedeshi: "Being a musician is not only about playing excellent cello or piano, but also very much about networking. Not every master's degree in music comes naturally with that, or is a competitive beast that lives from competition to competition. For all those others, therefore, the series is a gift!"
Lenny: "Running promotions, social media, seeking sponsorship with all the heated discussions that entails, making technical documents, determining what staff is needed, calculating the total cost, also calculating our own fees, ... The fact that we get to learn and do all of that without risking a financial hangover amounts to a course in cultural management on the job".
Kirsten: "Yes, it's a nice addition to our artistic training that barely speaks about how we need to market ourselves as musicians. I see how many talented peers communicate themselves to death and become exhausted or disappointed when things don't go so well. Honestly, you sometimes have to make yourself bigger than you are, or naturally have the right friends. Some have a manager from their own wealthy family, so it's easier that way."
Kirsten Gedeshi and Lenny Bui-Vandeput, who will perform a Rachmaninov concert on 10 December, are participating in the conversation via Zoom from Korea where they are following an exchange program. If desired, they can receive guidance from a psychotherapist specializing in K-Arts. They notice that art is held in very high regard in Korea and that young musical talent is treated and guided like young top athletes in our country. There is an entire system of structural support, guidance, physical and mental coaching. Music lessons, and we're only talking about the Korean DKO, last no 15 minutes but at least an hour or even two hours per week, on the other hand that student is expected to practice four hours a day. But that's another debate, they say.
DREAMS
With the first edition veelbeLEUVENd, several team members or curators see a dream come true. When Brecht Valckenaers (piano) and Martijn Susla (clarinet) began their studies at the Antwerp Conservatory four years ago, they swore to each other that they would one day play Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps, and on January 21, 2024, that dream already comes true. "Together with Iola Cornelis (violin) and Emiel Vertongen (cello), we have built a connection with this work over the past years and we look forward to sharing our love for this music with others! The Quatuor is also so diverse, the sixth part is rousing, an adrenaline rush to play but also very connecting, everyone plays the whole piece unison as if we are chanting together. The first part, on the other hand, is an evocation of the early morning in which birds and other natural elements wake up and move one by one, you could call it a soundscape. My highlights are perhaps the slow parts V and VIII, which are of incredible, eternal beauty." Because creating extra opportunities for young people has been on her bucket list for so long, Ann Sluys, piano teacher at the Leuven Conservatory, sits as the only 'older' member in the team without, however, making music herself. "It always pains me when young musicians, even graduates, are expected to perform for free or for next to nothing, or feel hesitant to charge a fair fee," she says. "Furthermore, I greatly enjoy their energy and enthusiasm, I am sure that will also be heard in their concerts. You experience this kind of freshness for only a short period in your musician's life, the audience can certainly benefit from it."
Does this series now present the big names of tomorrow, those who will 'make it'?
Ann Sluys: "That's very difficult to say, I think talent only accounts for 30%, alongside willpower, you must have the drive to continue investing in your own talent. Furthermore, you must come into contact with the right people at the right time. Some very talented young musicians remain under the radar for various reasons and are not noticed by organizers or cultural centers, precisely that is what this series wants to address. What is certain is that the screening was strict, in conclave many names were mentioned, many were eliminated for not being ready yet. Everyone who plays in veelbeLEUVENd is at a high level. But predicting who the Leuven Julien Libeer or Lorenzo Gatto will be is not the primary concern of the concert series".
CONTINUITY
Whether the concept veelbeLEUVENd will be followed elsewhere remains to be seen. In any case, the first edition is well on its way to being a success, for two concerts (Bach on 5/11 and Arenski-Piazolla on 18/02) there are waiting lists. The follow-up program for '2024-'2025 is in the pipeline. Perhaps the team will dream bigger next time than just chamber music? Perhaps there will be concerts on period instruments? The formula seems to only work and fit when the team stays young and thus continuously reinvents itself, new blood will continuously be needed. Perhaps the real test comes later, when the 'novelty' wears off, but the fact that they have made a good start is certain.
Veelbeleuvend, on Sundays in Leuven from November 5, 2023 to May 26, 2024 of, by and with:
Lenny Bui-Vandeput, piano Stijn Claeys, piano Kirsten Gedeshi, piano Brecht Valckenaers, piano Kasper Delrue, violin Jonathan van der Beek, horn
Ann Sluys, piano teacher Robrecht Penders, 30 CC Annick Dumalin, 30 CC
For the annual program: www.30cc.be/veelbeLEUVENd About the Curators: www.30cc.be/curatoren
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