HOW DESIRE DRIVES US

The concert Daphnis et Chloé weaves together three stories about desire, with music by Van Parys, Boulanger, and Ravel. Yet each story is different: told from other perspectives, shaped by different forms of desire, and carried by different voices. Brussels Philharmonic invited slam poet and Brussels city poet Lisette Ma Neza to rediscover these stories through her own lens. How does she weave the works together? How does she write a new layer onto the music? And which words does she add to reveal hidden worlds?

With music, word, and image, this concert invites us to reflect on what sparks desire and sets it in motion. The emotional force of the music by Annelies Van Parys, Nadia Boulanger, and Maurice Ravel is given an added dimension through the words of Lisette Ma Neza. For each work she writes a prologue, entering into a live dialogue with Pitcho (Brussels rapper, producer, and actor). During the music, her words and phrases come alive through the visual translation of motion designer Ychaï Gassenbauer.

Step into the story of Daphnis et Chloé: where music, spoken word, and visual poetry merge, leaving space for the audience to imagine their own perspectives and desires.

Familieconcert: Images

Art Day for Children is the ultimate cultural celebration for families — and this year’s theme, “Make room for art”, is something the Brussels Philharmonic takes quite literally!

We’ve chosen a vibrant, imaginative work by Claude Debussy, Images pour orchestre, and invited six young animators and video artists to bring their own creative vision to life. The result? A playful kaleidoscope of styles, stories and interpretations, all projected on a big screen during the concert — with Debussy’s magical music as the soundtrack. Meet the makers: Simon Cools Fierlafijn, Annelies Jacobs, Noortje Lenaerts, Rik Maes, Aaron Muller & Sofie Vermeir.

Before and after the concert, we open the doors of Flagey: throughout the building, there’s space for art — and space to make art! Draw, craft, make music, read, listen, explore — and dive into the marvellous world of Debussy.

Poems in colour

Le Poème du feu work calls for a large orchestra, women’s choir, piano, and—well ahead of its time—a colour organ to project light in sync with the music. Scriabin never saw that dream fully realised, but he left the door wide open for others to imagine what it could be. Now, at the invitation of the Brussels Philharmonic, Nazanin Fakoor brings that vision to life—not only for The Poem of Fire, but also for Debussy’s shimmering La Mer.

Nazanin Fakoor is an Iranian-German multi-disciplinary artist and director based in Brussels. Her visual installations and performances are worlds that the spectator can enter and influence. Through her work, she explores utopian possibilities at the intersection of recognition and alienation, aesthetics and social issues, and reality and possibility, blending video, performance, and installation with light, sound, movement and music.

Imagining Petrushka

From towering trees to whispering water and a lively fairground: the music of Joan Towers, Camille Pépin, and Igor Stravinsky makes the orchestra breathe, sparkle, and shine in every imaginable colour. At the heart lies Stravinsky’s Petroushka: a dazzling ballet in four scenes. A fair. Three puppets. A tragic fate – and an orchestra singing the story. Stravinsky fuses Russian folk tunes, French chansons, and Viennese waltzes into an orchestration brimming with sharp dissonances and clashing rhythms. The orchestra sounds now like a giant accordion, then like a balalaika in full flight.

Brussels Philharmonic invited artist Ellen Vrijsen to create new large-scale works, inspired by this colourful and imaginative music. Motion designer Ychaï Gassenbauer then transforms the paintings into an expressive, layered visual world, turning the concert hall into a magical place.