Hello from down under!!!

I'm currently on an amazing tour with soundinitiative, which has taken us to Singapore, New Zealand and currently Melbourne where I'm writing this. 

After a very well received concert at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington on august 22nd, we've currently made it to Melbourne, Australia, where we're preparing for three concerts at the Bendigo festival for exploratory music (BIFEM)! The first concert on september 4th will feature the world premier of a 40 minute long work by Austrian composer Bernhard Lang, "The Exhausted" for solo voice and ensemble, a truly great work, with a wonderful guitar part in it! 

On the next day, september 5th, Soundinitiative will perform a second concert featuring chamber works from french composers, I'll perform Rafael Cendo's "Faction". And last but not least, as part of BIFEM's Argonaut-project, I will also perform in Alexander Schubert's electrifying Superimpose-cycle (Superimpose III "Infinite Jest") on september 6th.

After this we go on to Brisbane where soundinitiative will perform "Made in France" again on the 8th of september as part of the Brisbane Festival. Then we return to Singapore where we'll perform Bernhard Lang's "The Exhausted" one more time before ending this tour and returning home to Belgium... :)

 

 

Back in Schloss Solitude and other Oh Mensch related news!

During the months of june and july, guitar duo Oh Mensch is back in residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude, near Stuttgart. We've been very busy working on new repertoire, recording, performing and preparing some exciting upcoming projects!

On june 14th we had the pleasure to premier Christopher Trapani's beautiful new piece for two steel string guitars called "Alcohol and Algebra" at the Sommer in Stuttgart festival, alongside other pieces by Brian Ferneyhough, Matthias Spahlinger and Larry Polansky.

During this time composer Turgut Ercetin paid us a visit to work on a new ambitious piece for two guitars called "Catalysis (a): Şafak and Bahtiyar", which will be premiered in january 2016. 

Working with Turgut Ercetin in our studio at Schloss Solitude.

Working with Turgut Ercetin in our studio at Schloss Solitude.

A week later we went to Berlin to perform at Acker Stadt Palast and work with composer Matthias Spahlinger on his piece "Entfernte Ergänzung" in a version for two guitars. 

Working with Matthias Spahlinger at Acker Stadt Palast, Berlin

Working with Matthias Spahlinger at Acker Stadt Palast, Berlin

In may we also started recording music for an upcoming album which will feature pieces centered around the theme of microtonality. We recorded pieces by Brian Ferneyhough, Arthur Kampela and Larry Polansky in Johan Vandermaelen's studio near Brussels and are now continuing our recordings at Schloss Solitude with pieces written for us by Tim Mariën and Christopher Trapani. In later stage we will also add Turgut Ercetin's new piece to the set.

Recording at Johan Vandermaelens's studio near Brussels in may.

Recording at Johan Vandermaelens's studio near Brussels in may.

Next up here in Schloss Solitude is a presentation of Christopher Trapani's music featuring his "Alcohol and Algebra" as well as the solo piece "Really Coming Down" on the 10th of july here at Schloss Solitude. Then we'll start rehearsing for a performance during the 25th anniversary festival of Akademie Schloss Solitude, where we'll perform Xavier Leroy's choreography on Helmut Lachenmann's "Salut für Caudwell"!

Lastly, Oh Mensch will finally also perform in Brazil in the end of july! A mini-tour will bring us to Sao Paolo for a performance at FIME (Festival International de Musica Experimental) on july 28th and Belo Horizonte for a concert at Fundação de Educação Artistica. Our program will feature the Brazilian premier of Helmut Lachenmann's "Salut for Caudwell", next to pieces by Matthias Spahlinger and Arthur Kampela.

Ear_To_The_Ground Festival with Oh Mensch and Zwerm + another CD-release!!

Come to the Bijloke in Ghent on saturday may 9th for what promises to be a wonderful first edition of the new Ear_To_The_Ground Festival!

I'll be performing both with Oh Mensch and Zwerm! Two completely different sets, Oh Mensch will perform microtonal music for two acoustic guitars by Brian Fenreyhough, Tim Mariën and Arthur Kampela , while Zwerm will perform our much acclaimed Electric Consort program, arrangements of English renaissance music for 4 electric guitars!

Other great groups and musicians are performing during this event too, such as Nadar-ensemble, Greg Cohen, Bent Van Looy and Tip Toe Company, among others! For all details visit the festival website!

In other news, Zwerm also just released a live-album of Electric Consort! You can check it out here! The recordings were made during the concerts at AlbaNova and Ma-festival last summer. I hope you enjoy it!


More reviews of my album "Give my Regards to 116th Street"!

My solo CD "Give My Regards To 116th Street" received some more reviews and they're more than positive! It was featured in the Dutch alternative music blog Vital Weekly, the Belgian newspaper de Standaard and the french music blog Le Son du Grisli. You can find some quotes and links to the full reviews below. The CD has also been featured on radiostations Klara (Belgium) and The Sound Projector (UK), click on the link to listen to the podcast!

"Listening to all these works, there were moments that kept me on the edge of my seat, eager to register everything that is happening. So this album brings a great player in the spotlight who triggers his instrument to make dances I didn’t know of. Lovely record, of a baffling beauty!"

"I could not have imagined there is still so much to discover from this instrument. But Van Cauwenberghe succeeds in creating many different sounds and textures from this instrument."

read full review

"Those who associate the guitar with nostalgic Spanish tunes, can make some nice discoveries here"

read full review (in Dutch)

"Mais le disque n’en est pas moins passionnant. Voilà pourquoi je ne saurais que trop vous conseiller cet état des lieux des jeunes tablatures comme il peut s’en écrire en ce moment même près de la 116ème Rue de New York."

read full review (in French)