Brecht Valckenaers

SATELLITE CONCERT – accompanying On a Devil’s Staircase

The first satellite concert focuses on Morton Feldman’s Palais de Mari, the central work in Brecht Valckenaers’ piano recital On a Devil’s Staircase on Monday, 28 September.

Brecht Valckenaers and Maarten Beirens offer listening tips for Morton Feldman’s minimalist masterpiece, which you will also hear in its entirety. It can only deepen and intensify your experience of the piano recital itself.

Program:

Ligeti: Étude 15: White on white
Ligeti: Étude 7: Galamb borong 
Ligeti: Étude 3: Touches bloquées
Valckenaers: Rhythm Study 6: Interlocking
Ligeti: Étude 11: En suspens
Ligeti: Étude 1: Désordre 

          Interlude: Feldman: Palais de Mari I 

Ligeti: Étude 8: Fém 
Ligeti: Étude 16: Pour Irina
Valckenaers: Rhythm Study 7: Ascending
Ligeti: Étude 2: Cordes à vide 
Ligeti: Étude 6: Automne à Varsovie

          Interlude: Feldman: Palais de Mari II

Ligeti: Étude 10: Der Zauberlehrling
Ligeti: Étude 4: Fanfares 
Valckenaers: Rhythm Study 8: Descending
Ligeti: Étude 5: Arc-en-ciel 
Ligeti: Étude 13: L’escalier du diable 
Ligeti: Étude 15: White … 

On a Devil’s Staircase is the third of four parts of Brecht Valckenaers’ Ligeti cycle in Brecht Valckenaers Festival 20·21. Our Festival artist in residence has previously played programmes featuring György Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata (and recorded a CD of it, released in February). Last year, Brecht played his music for two pianos with Jan Michiels. 

Now it’s high time to spotlight Ligeti’s most famous and most demanding pieces for solo piano, the miraculous Etudes. Brecht Valckenaers has made a personal selection from the Etudes, juxtaposing Ligeti’s abundance and Morton Feldman’s static grandeur. Also, he’ll once again strike up a conversation with Ligeti, composer to composer.

https://www.festival2021.be/en/2026/valckenaers-michiels-ligeti-feldman-valckenaers?lang=en

Program:

Grażyna Bacewicz: Piano Quintet No. 1
Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 4
Grażyna Bacewicz: Piano Quintet No. 2

Although the recently founded Karski Quartet is based in Belgium, it’s three-quarters Polish. This ensemble’s great dream is to promote the music of their great idol Grażyna Bacewicz in Belgium and abroad. And justly so, because Bacewicz is an incredibly gifted composer who can amaze, move and overwhelm. 

Earlier this year, the Karskis went all out and recorded a wonderful CD, which was internationally acclaimed. Now you have an opportunity to hear them live in Leuven, and to be transported by Bacewicz’s multi-faceted style. Besides her fourth string quartet, her two piano quintets, both lovely and very different from each other, are on the programme. 

Festival artist in residence Brecht Valckenaers will join the Karskis for the quintets.

Program:

Karel Goeyvaerts: Pas à pas

Boudewijn Cox: Equinox

Brecht Valckenaers: The Overview Effect

Claude Ledoux: Courbes d’étoiles: VI. 

Pieter Schuermans: … (Première)

Martin Loridan: Quatre fragments d’un rêve: 
I. Prélude
II. Puis la douceur

Mathias Coppens: In a Dream:
I. …Gloom Blossoms…
II. The Island of Charm

https://miryconcertzaal.be/belgian-music-days/

Program:

Olivier Messiaen: Quatre études de rythme: I. Île de feu 1
Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53
Brecht Valckenaers: The Overview Effect (2026)
Olivier Messiaen: Préludes: II. Chant d’extase dans un paysage triste
Alexander Scriabin: Vers la flamme, Op. 72

As part of the Glocal Piano Festival of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition 2026.
https://www.busoni-mahler.eu/competition/en/pagina-busoni-en/
https://sallecortot.com/event/glocal-piano-festival-epreuves-de-selections/

In Continuum, Robbe and Brecht draw on György Ligeti’s repertoire for keyboard instruments. Iconic works such as the Études for piano and Continuum for harpsichord serve as starting points for improvisations, in which composed material continuously transforms into the spontaneous. Alongside these, they perform their own compositions and free improvisations.

Robbe and Brecht first met at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, where Robbe studied jazz drums and Brecht classical piano. After many years of improvising together, they are happy to finally bring their musical collaboration to the stage for the first time.

Program:

Van Parys –  (8’) — trompet solo 
Gubaidulina – Lamento (8’30”) — tuba & piano 
Ligeti – Mysteries of the Macabre (8’30”) — trompet & piano 
Sumera – Piano Piece (7’) — piano solo 
Globokar – Dialog über Erde (9’30”) — percussie solo 
Penderecki – Capriccio (5’) — tuba solo 
Valckenaers – nieuw werk (6’) — trompet, tuba, percussie & piano