Circular Spells promises to be an intriguing bridge between worlds far apart, artistically and geographically. Binon brings her classically trained voice, De Clerck meets her with the sound of the aulos, an old pre-christian double-reed wind instrument which is seen often in ancient artworks, but heard almost never. What’s more is that this programme spans multiple millennia, with folkloric repertoire from Portugal, Syria and the very first female composer ever, Kassia from Constantinopel, next to avant-garde compositions by John Cage and Annelies Van Parys. Tradition and innovation going hand in hand, Circular Spells is bound to be hypnotic.
Lore Binon started out as a violinist but couldn’t resist her passion for singing and ended up getting master's degrees at the Brussels Conservatory for both. Afterwards she studied at Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona and the Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She’s welcomed often for music theatre roles at LOD muziektheater, Zonzo Compagnie and Muziektheater Transparant. She made her opera debut as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with the Freiburger Barockorchester led by René Jacobs, which opened the door for other opera roles, such as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Opera Ballet Vlaanderen). She has worked with Rosas, Spectra Ensemble, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Oxalys Ensemble, B’rock Orchestra, Hervé Niquet, Philippe Herreweghe, Zefiro Torna and many others. She is a founding member of chamber music ensemble Revue Blanche.
Lukas De Clerck has been working around the aulos for years now, first as an auto-didact, later in a more collaborative, multi-disciplinary way. To strip the instrument from its enigmatic past, he approaches it playfully, curiously, with the goal of transforming and reinventing. He has created the new and updated Telescopic Aulos and likes to confront his extraordinary instruments with ‘ordinary’ sounds such as gargling, whistling and sneezing. His music has been released several labels such as KRAAK, blickwinkel and Beyt Al Tapes and performed live in venues all over Europe such as Sonic Acts, STUK, UH Fest and Ancienne Belgique.
A millennia old instrument commences a dialogue with a timeless voice bringing us to transcendental places the after summer solstice. We’ll see you on the 22nd of June. Come usher in the summer with DAS HAUS!
Team:
Lore Binon - vocals
Lukas De Clerck - aulos
Compositions by Kassia of Constantinopel, John Cage and Jean-Luc Fafchamp, among others.