Bernstein & Domniq plays Eötvös

Hungarian conductor and composer Peter Eötvös, who died in March 2024, has written more than ten operas and also numerous concertos. Speaking Drums is a 2012 percussion concerto whose title should be taken quite literally: the soloist not only plays a variety of percussion instruments but also speaks, growls, roars and screams. Inspired by Indian drummers – who recite texts while playing percussion – Peter Eötvös took as his starting point some nonsense texts by Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres, alongside a 12th-century poem by Indian poet Jayadeva. Dutch multi-percussionist Dominique Vleeshouwers, aka DOMNIQ, guarantees a particularly theatrical concert.

With West Side Story, the renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein succeeded in writing a worldwide hit. His musical, based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, pits the gang of Polish Americans against the gang of Puerto Rican immigrants in New York's Upper West Side. The Broadway premiere in 1957 was a veritable triumph. A few years later, Bernstein compiled nine exceprts from West Side Story, including the well-known Somewhere and Maria, into a new orchestral suite: the Symphonic Dances. The Belgian National Orchestra concludes this free concert organised as part of the Fête de la Musique with four dances from the ballet Estancia by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera.

Created with the support of the Belgian Tax Shelter through Casa Kafka Pictures.