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Annelies Van Parys (°1975) is one of Belgium’s leading composers. She writes solo and chamber music works as well as large orchestral compositions with a great preference for music theatre. Since 2007, she is a resident composer of Muziektheater Transparant.

She received direct commissions from venues and performers as Belgian National Orchestra, Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin, Folkoperan Stockholm, Biennale Musica di Venezia and Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and wrote for ensembles such as Recherche Freiburg, Ictus Ensemble, Asko/Schoenberg and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. She was awarded numerous prizes (amongst them, the Fedora-Rolf Liebermann for Opera)

Annelies Van Parys is currently professor of composition at the Brussels Royal Conservatory.

www.anneliesvanparys.be

Fragrances

FSO-SPECTRA Conducting Masterclass

From 15 to 18 June 2023, the latest edition of the masterclass for young conductors will take place at Muziekcentrum De Bijloke. 
As icing on the cake, the three young conductors will show what they are made of during a final closing session in the Concertzaal.

Programme
Frank Nuyts - Five Penny beats & The seven beats itch
Jean-Luc Fafchamps - Lettre Soufie : Sh(ìn)
Annelies Van Parys - Fragrances
Johannes Brahms - Symfonie nr. 1

SPECTRA Ensemble
Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen
Chunyi Zhao, Marco Crispo & Mathew Rhodes - conductors

Upcoming

Season 2023 - 2024

Tsunami

Sonoro Quartet

One of the Belgian string quartets causing a furore is undoubtedly the Sonoro Quartet. Now their international dream is also coming true. Within the European Concert Hall Organisation, they were chosen as Rising Stars and will represent Bozar in no less than 16 European concert halls during the ‘23-‘24 season. Their luggage will also contain a token from one of our most distinguished Belgian composers, Annelies Van Parys. The work she wrote especially for this tour will premiere at this concert at Bozar.

Sonoro Quartet - ensemble

Programme
Seán Doherty - String Quartet no. 3 "Devil's Dream"
Annelies Van Parys - New commission
Guillaume Lekeu - Molto adagio sempre cantante doloroso
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - String Quartet no. 6, op. 80

Fast nur Luft - worldpremière

Tomma Wessel

Few ever master the recorder in its many forms as well as Tomma Wessel. One such master is composer and recorder player Eva Reiter. In this concert her work Tourette is matched with brand-new creations by Annelies Van Parys and Marta Gentilucci. That latter gives us an exclusive insight into the creative process of her ‘baby’ and into the challenges facing the performer. Welcome to the baby shower for two new additions to the recorder repertoire family. Exciting!

Programme
Eva Reiter - Tourette
Annelies Van Parys - creation
Giorgio Tedde - Austro
Marta Gentilucci - Creation

Notwehr

A Chamber Opera

Volver meets Hiroshima mon Amour in this moving story of injustice and hope

Two women involuntarily share a prison cell: a young activist who was arrested after an illegal protest and a working-class woman who murdered her boyfriend. Their forced togetherness starts tensely, but as the nights go by, they share their fears and hopes. Notwehr brings together old and new music: a cycle of baroque madrigals by Banchieri provides a sort of echo of the past and of the outside world and intertwines with the new music of Annelies Van Parys.

A commission of La Biënnale di Venezia, in co-production with Studio Minailo, HERMESensemble & Muziektheater Transparant
Dedicated to Maria Kalesnikava & all other brave women who lost their freedom fighting for a better world. 

Annelies Van Parys & Adriano Banchieri - music
Sjaron Minailo - director
Raphael René Jacobs - director’s assistant
Gaea Schoeters - libretto
Sjaron Minailo & Maarten Warmerdam - scenography
Patricia Hofstede - costume design
Johanna Zimmer & Els Mondelaers - soprano & mezzosoprano
HERMESensemble - ensemble
B’Rock Vocal Consort -  choir

EUtopia

European Union Youth Orchestra

European Union Youth Orchestra
Elisabeth laureates join Europe’s most energetic orchestra.

Music connects people and nowhere is that more true than at the European Union Youth Orchestra. Every year, the very best young musicians gather there to learn, work and enjoy. The result is their legendary concerts. For this tour, three revelations from the Elisabeth Competition will join the orchestra as soloists. And before French conductor Alexandre Bloch unleashes a fiery Bolero, we get to hear a brand new work by Annelies Van Parys.

A one-hour concert, performed by young people, for young people! The European Union Youth Orchestra is a committed orchestra, designed to celebrate the diversity and talent of young musicians from the 27 countries of the European Union. On the occasion of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union, Bozar, together with its partners at the Concertgebouw Brugge and the Palais des Beaux-Arts Charleroi, is organising a Belgian tour of this inspiring orchestra. On the theme of democracy, there will be three separate programmes in the three cities, based on three winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In Brussels, Timothy Chooi will perform Beethoven's Violin Concerto, accompanied by a world premiere by the Belgian Annelies Van Parys and Ravel's Boléro.

European Union Youth Orchestra
Alexandre Bloch - conductor
Timothy Chooi - violin

Programme
Annelies Van Parys - New commission
Ludwig van Beethoven - Violin Concerto, op. 61
Maurice Ravel - Boléro

Threnody

I Solisti / Spectra Ensemble

Saariaho uses beautiful imagery to describe her composition 'Solar': the basic idea seems like a sounding celestial body that forces the harmony gain and again back to its starting point, as if the music followed the laws of gravity. In 'Amers' (after the French for navigation points at sea), she paints the picture of a sailing boat trying to hold its course in defiance of the waves. Annelies Van Parys' world creation adds a contemporary star to this sparkling concert.

Programme
Kaija Saariaho - Amers
Kaija Saariaho - Solar
Annelies Van Parys - world première

I SOLISTI & SPECTRA - ensemble
Filip Rathé - conductor
Séverine Ballon - cello