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Marjan Hellraeth  |  Managing Director

Tel: +32 473 27 23 43

Email: marjan.hellraeth@aulos.be

Missionarislei 66
2970 Schilde

AULOS represents national and international musicians, conductors, artists, music ensembles and music companies. AULOS is committed to provide support so that they can focus on their artistic creation.

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Latest News about the productions managed by AULOS and themusicians and  conductors AULOS works with.

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The new album 'Closer to Paradise' by SPARK - The Classical Band is here.

Ann Geerts

On this release Spark present a spectrum of works that ranges from the classical masters such as Vivaldi, Schumann through to French chansonnier Leo Ferré, Italian cantautore Lucio Dalla as well as pop artists like Depeche Mode and Rammstein. Rounded off with some compositions by the Spark musicians themselves, this album offers a musical mix that brings out a unique variety of sounds.

The new album 'Closer to Paradise' is available here.

Valer Sabadus & Spark, the classical band - Closer to Paradise. (Albumtrailer)

Photo © Gregor Hohenberg

Alon Sariel presents Plucked Bach, Bach’s Cello Suites in A New Light

Ann Geerts

Alon Sariel makes his PENTATONE debut with Plucked Bach, a programme exploring Bach’s cello suites performed on mandolin, arch-lute, chitarra Spagnola, liuto attiorbato and oud, concluding with Sariel’s own Bach-inspired Mandolin Partita.

Bach’s suites are often considered to be “the cellist’s Bible”, but the transferability of his music between instruments – a practice to which the composer himself also contributed frequently – seems to justify this fresh approach.

Sariel aims to realize the timeless and universal character of Bach’s music in a multifarious sound world of plucked instruments, through a programme that employs an interplay of light and dark, embodied by the first and second suites respectively. Another objective has been to bring out the youthful elan of this music, composed years before Bach’s Passions. Altogether, this album presents Bach’s music in a new, enticing light.

Alon Sariel is one of the most versatile performers of his generation, whose guiding principle is a changing perspective; giving new life to existing material, as well as creating completely new works.

Digital release date 24 June 2022

Keiko Shichijo presents her new album "W.A. Mozart: Solo Keyboard Works"!

Ann Geerts

Fortepianist Keiko Shichijo presents a radically fresh view of Mozart's keyboard music. Neal Peres Da Costa, Professor of Historical Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music writes: "Keiko Shichijo has been inspired to reimagine a Mozart that is highly expressive, rhetorical, and even occasionally volatile." Shichijo's brilliant Mozart was recorded on an original Frère et Soeur Stein d’Augsbourg à Vienne dated 1802. Mr. Da Costa calls the instrument "absolutely ravishing in sound, with a clarity, crispness, and resonance that is ideally suited to Mozart’s piano writing."

Keiko Shichijo is a true poet of the ivories. This rivals some of the best Mozart solo piano performances ever, to my mind. You owe it to yourself to hear it.
— Gapplegate

AULOS is delighted to welcome the Duo Tokár to its roster for general management.

Ann Geerts

Duo Tokár is a motivated and young duo consisting of Emile Souvagie (clarinet) and Hannelore Vander Elst (guitar). Both musicians have plenty of talent and hope to slowly but steadily conquer the national and international stages.

We wish them great success in all of their endeavours.

More about Duo Tokár.

Streaming live from Villa Seligmann in Hannover on Sunday May 10, 2020 - and exclusively on QChamberStream.com - Alon Sariel, Ania Vegry and Boris Kusnezow

Ann Geerts

The new streaming channel QChamberStream enables you to experience live performances of cutting edge soloists and chamber ensembles in the highest quality in your own living room.

May 10, 2020 - 17:00 (CET)

ALON SARIEL, MANDOLIN AND LUTE
ANIA VEGRY, SOPRANO
BORIS KUSNEZOW, PIANO

Works by Uri Caine, Laks, Ben-Haim, Rossi, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Morley, Beethoven, Mozart, and Livingston

Kurt Bertels about the very first saxophone concerto in history (Paul Gilson)

Ann Geerts

The Belgian Paul Gilson wrote the very first saxophone concerto in history. A work whose score could not be found until recently. For Kurt Bertels, Flanders' youngest saxophone pride, the discovery was a godsend: he can now, together with Flanders Symphony Orchestra, present Gilson's "Saxophone Concerto No. 1" to the Belgian and international audience for the first time. A world first!



Scheherazade | 13.02 - 08.03.2020
Info & tickets: www.symfonieorkest.be/scheherazade

Flanders Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig
Kurt Bertels, saxophone

Anatoly Liadov 1855-1914 | The enchanted lake, op. 62
Paul Gilson 1865-1942 | Saxophone concertos no. 1 & 2
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 1844-1908 | Scheherazade, op. 35

Keiko Shichijo presents her new album "Beethoven 1802"!

Ann Geerts

The year 1802 was very special for Beethoven in both his private life and his compositional process. That autumn, Beethoven penned the letter now known as the "Heiligenstadt testament", in which he clearly struggles with his private life. In the same period, referring to his compositions, Beethoven told his friend Wenzel Krumpholz that he was only little satisfied with his previous works, and was planning to take a “new path”. After this declaration, he wrote the Three Sonatas, Op.31 (including the Tempest sonata) and the Eroica variations Op. 35, that indeed show innovative writing compared to his previous works in his use of form and unexpected variation technique, among other things.

About 10 years ago, one short phone call unexpectedly led me to a very special meeting with an original Viennese five-and-a-half-octave fortepiano built by Frère et Sœur Stein (Vienna, 1802). Though it was not playable at that time, looking at this instrument carefully, I felt strongly attracted to its simple but refined design. Slender hammer shanks formed beautiful lines, looking somehow dynamic despite their delicateness. For days I continuously wondered about it, and tried to imagine the sound of this instrument. This piano had definitely left me with an unforgettable sort of fragrance. Finally I asked for it to be restored, and officially became the owner of this instrument. After its restoration in 2011, I finally played on it for the first time and heard its voice. It’s impossible to put into words how excited I was. This was the start of my own ‘new path’ with this instrument. Working on it has been a big challenge for me, but even so it has remained a great joy and inspiration.” (Keiko)

The piano company Frère et Sœur Stein was founded in 1794 by the siblings Nanette and Matthäus Andreas Stein. They were the daughter and son of Johann Andreas Stein, who himself was a maker of pianos about which Mozart was very enthusiastic, and they strictly followed the tradition of their father's technique. Frère et Sœur Stein continued until 1802, when Matthäus Andreas broke away to start a business for himself, as the philosophy for building pianos began to change towards creating more volume. The fortepiano used for this recording is one of the last pianos the Steins built together and reflects the pinnacle of design from that time: a perfect balance of mechanism and proportions resulting in an exquisite tone colour throughout the registers. It differs from most other Viennese instruments of the same period, as it does not have a‘back check’ (which captures the hammer after hitting the strings to prevent the hammer from bouncing).

Trying to control this instrument without a back check has been one of the biggest challenges for me. If I hit the key even a little too hard, the hammer bounces back immediately and hits the strings twice. On the other hand, when played correctly, the action is very smooth. Playing softly, it feels as if the individual notes melt into each other and light up the chords' characters. “Unlike any other composer Beethoven excels at bringing to light and putting to full use the characteristics and special features of the fortepiano...but one needs to have a very good instrument to play the various movements, as for example the whole of the first movement, to some level of satisfaction.

The friendship between Beethoven and the piano builder Nanette Streicher (née Stein) is well known. It cannot be underestimated how much Nanette’s knowledge as a piano builder and technician contributed to Beethoven’s music. With these facts in mind, I have collected Beethoven’s piano works written and published around 1802 to make the first recording on this instrument, made in the same year, by Frère et Sœur Stein. This instrument has been revived by the restorer Sietse Kok. His process of restoration first went through an intensive research into this instrument to unravel the piano making methods of Frère et Sœur Stein. Based on this concept, he first made a replica of the instrument, then finally restored the original. I am immensely grateful for his wonderful work.” (Keiko)

Program

Piano sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op.31-2 ‘The Tempest’
Piano sonata No.14 in C sharp minor Quasi una fantasia, Op.27-2 ‘Moonlight Sonata’
15 Variations and a fugue on an original theme for piano in E flat major, Op.35 ‘Eroica Variations’

Latest album release "Beethoven 1802” is available via the online channel of Etcetera Records.

Album Release Bach in the White City – September 2019

Ann Geerts

ALON SARIEL (mandolin) - MICHAEL TSALKA (piano)

A wonderful recording of music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Yehezkel Braun In 2003, Tel Aviv's "White City" becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the world's largest, still existing collection of Bauhaus style buildings, constructed mainly by emigrated Jewish Bauhaus architects from Germany.

The young Israeli mandolinist Alon Sariel follows the German tradition in the young city of Tel Aviv during the 1930s, represented here by music of the late Yehezkel Braun (1922-2014), and unites it with a much earlier German culture, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

For this project Alon Sariel uses his exceptional instrument, a mandolin made by 80 year old Tel Aviv luthier Arik Kerman, who has been following Alon's work since childhood.

His duo program with Tel Aviv born Michael Tsalka on the piano does therefore not only become an echo of remembering the deeply rooted love for Bach inside the emigrants, but at the same time builds the bridge into the here and now. Weimar, important Bach city as well as the cradle of Bauhaus, and Tel Aviv are connected here in an extraordinary way and the lasting influence of the Bauhaus until today is artistically newly absorbed by means of a musical idea. Especially in the first years of Bauhaus the close connection to Weimar's Bach history is evident and tangible. Bach's music is the fixed reference point of the musical identity at the famous Bauhaus Feasts. If there ever was an equivalent in the world of sounds for the visions of the Bauhaus artists, then Bach's oeuvre with its Baroque stylistic idiom, its regularity and defined rules came closest to their ideas in those years.

In their last album Sharkiya ("East Wind" in Arabic), released by the Israeli Music Institute (IMI) in 2016, Sariel and Tsalka already presented a handful of brilliant compositions by Yehezkel Braun.

Bach in the White City can be seen as a next step, or parallel existence: Wind From the West ̵ Bauhaus in Tel Aviv.

Programme

J.S. Bach – Sonata for Mandolin and Piano, BWV 1031
Yehezkel Braun – Mesembrianthema
J.S. Bach – Solo Partita, BWV 1013
Yehezkel Braun – Four Pieces for Keyboard
J.S. Bach – Concerto in Italian Style

Latest album release "Bach in the White City” (Sheva Collection) is available via the online channels iTunes, Qobuz and Amazon.

New CD Rembrandt! by Alon Sariel & Concerto Foscari

Ann Geerts

Rembrandt Cover.jpg

This album is Alon Sariel's personal homage to Rembrandt van Rijn, whose 350th date of death is commemorated by the art world in 2019.

As a lutenist, Alon Sariel has been fascinated by the Dutch Golden Age since many years now – perhaps specifically because the musical pearls of this epoch are seldomly performed and certainly are not counted among what is called the standard repertoire for this instrument.

A big part of the CD's programme is originally lute music, since without a doubt, the lute was the most appreciated instrument of the Golden Age. The paintings from these years speak a clear message: Circa 25 per cent of all music images show a lute.

However, Sariel has added some instruments – instruments, which enjoyed great popularity such as the viola da gamba and flutes. Therefore, the lute music in the recording's arrangements becomes even more colourful!.

Moreover, Alon Sariel wanted to create ample space for improvisation, a crucial element of the time's music – and so Concerto Foscari unleashes their imagination as well, having a Rembrandt painting before their eyes.

During rehearsals and recording the musicians often discussed about „colours“, of finding a darker or brighter sound. Musical terminology is often borrowed from the visual world, from the world of images and painting. The moment when painters try to visualise music can be a very intriguing one – as if they wanted to „freeze“ the music and give it eternity, as opposed to a chord on the lute that disappears in a few seconds. It is exactly those painted moments that Alon Sariel wants to breathe new life into with the resources of music and the aim to create the „soundtrack“ of the Golden Age.

Two pieces are recorded here for the first time: Louys de Moy's „L’Italiana & Spagnolet“ and the „Allemande“ by Constantijn Huygens.

Pieces by Emanuel Adriaenssen, Joachim van den Hove, Nicolas Vallet, Johannes Schenck, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Samuel Scheidt, Nicolaus a Kempis, Jacob van Eyck, Carel Hacquart, Louys de Moy, John Bull, Peter Philips, Benedictus a Sancto Josepho, Constantijn Huygens and Adriaen Valerius.

Alon Sariel (lute) &
Concerto Foscari
: Elisabeth Champollion (flute), Fredrik Hildebrand (viola da gamba), Claudius Kamp (flute/dulcian), Paweł Miczka (violin/viola), Leopold Nicolaus (violin)

Concerto Foscari © Sonja Bürmann

Concerto Foscari © Sonja Bürmann

The CD and Booklet “Rembrandt!” are available via the online channels VKJK and Amazon.

World premiere! In February 2020 Kurt Bertels presents the saxophone concertos nrs. 1 & 2 by Paul Gilson, together with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.

Ann Geerts

This week the Flanders Symphony Orchestra announced its concert calendar for next season.
One of the eye-catchers is the Scheherazade production led by conductor Jan Latham-Koenig.
Kurt Bertels, Flanders' latest youngest saxophone pride, ventures into the virtuoso concertos by Paul Gilson with the necessary dose of guts. On a historic saxophone, moreover: a world first!

Program
A. Liadov | The enchanted more, op. 62
P. Gilson | Saxophone concertos no. 1 & 2
N. Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade, op. 35

Kacper Nowak & Christia Hudziy present their CD "Contrastes" !

Ann Geerts

Contrastes - Kacper Nowak & Christia Hudziy 512x512.jpg

On their first release for Antarctica Records, cello prodigy Kacper Nowak and his equally talented piano pal Christia Hudziy trace the heritage of Romanticism in postmodern times.

On their debut recording, Nowak and Hudziy impressively demonstrate that there is more to modern music than avant-garde experiments: they make a breathtakingly beautiful case for a conception of 20thcentury music as the product of incessant innovation, but also cyclical rebirth.

Releasedate: October 5th, 2018
Label: Antartica Records
Tracklist:
B. Martinu: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano
J. Brahms: Sonata for Piano and Cello in e minor, Op. 38
A. Schnittke: Sonata for Cello and Piano

The recordings “Contrastes - Kacper Nowak & Christia Hudziy” are available via the online channels iTunes, Qobuz and Spotify.

Roeland Hendrikx presents his CD "Dedications" !

Ann Geerts

Roeland Hendrikx CD 512x512.jpg

With the CD Dedications, Roeland Hendrikx confirms his reputation as one of the leading clarinet players in Belgium.

Together with The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Roeland recorded three beautiful clarinet concertos earlier this year.

The album was recorded in April of this year at the legendary Henry Wood Hall in London, under the direction of conductor Martyn Brabbins.

Releasedate: October 5th, 2018
Label: Evil Penguin Classic
Tracklist:
G. Finzi: Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, Op.31
W.A. Mozart: Concerto in A Major for Clarinet and Orchestra, K. 622
M. Bruch: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with Orchestra, Op. 88

The recordings Dedications - Works for Clarinet & Orchestra are available in hi-res quality via the online channels iTunes and Qobuz.