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Daan Janssens’s Violin Concerto will receive its premiere with Brussels Philharmonic on 30 January at Flagey. The commission is part of a multi-year trajectory in which the Brussels Philharmonic presents a new creation each year by a Belgian composer, written for a musician from the orchestra.
With Ilan Volkov at the helm, the Brussels Philharmonic presents the Second and Sixth Symphonies by Luc Brewaeys: in the latter, Brewaeys brings together everything he stands for - the vibrant coloration of 20th-century spectralism, a bold orchestral configuration and a confrontation with electronics. Clearly influenced by that élan, Daan Janssens composed a new concerto for violin, orchestra and surround electronics.
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Composer Daan Janssens is acutely aware of the weight of history resting on his shoulders. The new work he is composing for our violinist Samuel Nemtanu draws on one of the most traditional structures in music history—something one cannot simply sidestep, even in the twenty-first century.
‘I think my Violin Concerto will inevitably evoke tradition, if only through its title. Moreover, it contains quite a few traditional elements. The soloist asserts himself with virtuosity against the orchestra, enters into dialogue with that mass at times, yet the piece also holds many passages in which the soloist truly merges with the symphonic sound.’
Many composers find themselves trapped in a strained pursuit of novelty within the violin concerto, searching—in vain—for ways to shrug off its historical burden. For Janssens, the solution lies precisely in embracing tradition. ‘You can create something new by completely deconstructing the violin and making it sound like an instrument that has nothing to do with its origin. But I find it far more compelling to create something new that keeps one foot in the past while the other steps into an entirely new world.’
That backward glance has much to do with our contemporary listening habits. We are among the first generations to have the entirety of music history at our fingertips.
‘Music is so omnipresent. Everything is on Spotify and on YouTube. When a new work premieres in New York, it is available worldwide the very next day. Everything has become so accessible. That has changed not only how we listen, but also why we listen. It allows you to develop a much broader frame of reference—historically, of course, but also in terms of the musical life around you. Today, you cannot write a violin concerto without referring to all the music that surrounds the new work.’
Through that openness, even an age-old form such as the concerto can sound contemporary. In Janssens’s new score, this happens above all through the addition of electronics to the symphonic fabric. For the composer, it offers a way to play with the conventions of concert staging. The placement of a symphony orchestra has been fixed for centuries, but the use of electronic elements inherently entails a spatial game. Which loudspeakers carry the sound, and where are those speakers placed in the hall?
‘In this way, you completely open up the acoustic space. The experience becomes more immersive — as if Flagey becomes your personal surround-sound installation, bringing you closer to the individual listening habits of today. Furthermore, I can use the electronics to set myself apart from tradition. They will, for instance, appear in the cadenza, a section usually reserved for the soloist.’
Janssens found inspiration in the Netflix series Stranger Things. In that popular sci-fi horror series, a portal opens beneath the sleepy American town of Hawkins, leading to another dimension: the Upside Down, a place where Lovecraftian monsters such as the demogorgon and the mind flayer roam and hunt. In Brussels, there is no reason to fear such creatures. But the idea of an inverted world runs through this new score.
It was equally important that the electronics would be an essential part of the composition from the outset. ‘They should not be the finishing sauce I pour over the work at the end,’ Janssens says.
Here too, our streaming culture played a role. Janssens found inspiration in the Netflix series Stranger Things. In that popular sci-fi horror series, a portal opens beneath the sleepy American town of Hawkins, leading to another dimension: the Upside Down, a place where Lovecraftian monsters such as the demogorgon and the mind flayer roam and hunt.
In Brussels, there is no reason to fear such creatures. But the idea of an inverted world runs through this new score. ‘I see the electronics in the violin concerto as a kind of parallel universe. You can amplify certain gestures or apply effects to the violin that overturn your expectations of its sound. Elements Samuel plays can be repeated and transformed in the electronics, making it unclear who produces which sound. And thanks to the surround-sound setup, sound can also come from unexpected directions. The space itself becomes a parallel realm: you see the orchestra’s mighty sound apparatus before you, yet the electronics encircle and disorient you.’
Daan Janssens is writing a new violin concerto for Samuel Nemtanu, principal second violin. Mission: Violin follows their collaboration, from the first sketches to the world premiere at Flagey, with surround electronics forming an essential sonic universe around the orchestra.
Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look and discover how composer and soloist push, shape, and inspire each other in our new video and podcast series.
put on your headphones and step into the creative space of composer Daan Janssens and violinist Samuel Nemtanu as they shape a new concerto for violin and electronics, from the first sketch to its premiere on 30 January 2026
