On 6 May 1936, the Brussels Symphony Orchestra (OSB) gave the French-language premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Erwartung (Expectation) in the Great Hall of the Palais des Beaux-Arts. It was one of the orchestra’s final appearances under that name: just a few months later, the OSB would become the Belgian National Orchestra, giving its very first concert on 25 October 1936. Erwartung therefore belongs to the very beginning of our story. This season, we revisit this legacy through a meeting of music and image.

How can we care for life today, tomorrow and for generations to come? This is the question at the heart of After Us, a film by Brussels-based filmmaker Dimitri Sterkens (b. 1991), created for the BNO in collaboration with ONDRAF-NIRAS, the Belgian agency responsible for radioactive waste management. Starting from a deliberately uncomfortable subject — radioactive waste, a legacy that will remain with us for thousands of years — the film opens up a much broader reflection on our collective responsibility. We met Dimitri to talk about how he transforms time, sound and image into a sensitive meditation on what will outlive us.

As Bozar’s Grand Invité for the 26/27 season, William Kentridge takes over Bozar with an exhibition and a selection of projects throughout the season, such as the film concert Oh to Believe in Another World with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10. Ahead of this exceptional invitation, curator Tarek Abou El Fetouh met the South African artist to discuss Brussels, collaboration, artistic experimentation and the ideas that continue to drive Kentridge’s work.

The Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir unfolds sublime soundscapes like no others. She has a penchant for the orchestra and its limitless potential and a broad selection of her orchestral pieces will be performed at Bozar. The BNO signs up for a close collaboration and will play four large-scale works. In this interview, Thorvaldsdottir sheds light on her inspirations, compositional process and the upcoming projects.