Classical Concert Guide: concerts worldwide

The Story of the Soldier, Stravinsky

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €20

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Gilles - Saint-Hubert)

The Erämaa trio offers a rereading of The Story of the Soldier by Igor Stravinsky, a mimodrama composed in 1917 and a masterpiece of 20th century music. Originally written for seven instrumentalists, the work is presented here in a reduced version for violin, clarinet and piano, continuing the reduction made by Stravinsky himself in his 1919 suite. The musical story features a soldier who trades his violin with the devil for a book that makes all his wishes come true. In a few days, his dreams come true, but upon his return he discovers that several years have passed and that he has lost everything. After recovering his violin through a trick, he manages to heal a princess and seduce her, before the devil finally claims his due. An avant-garde work, The Soldier's Story strikes by the contrast between an austere narration and lyrical and magical music, divided into various forms, with incisive rhythms and deliberately distorted tones.

Vespers, Rachmaninov

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €25

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Basilique de Saint-Hubert)

Our journey will end with an inner journey to Sergei Rachmaninov's profound and spiritual Russia. With Vespers op. 37, the Chamber Choir of the Province of Luxembourg “Appassionato”, composed of sixteen singers and directed by Marie-Béatrice Nickers, invites you on a journey to the heart of the Orthodox tradition. This a cappella work deploys a soundscape made of darkness and light, evoking the vast Russian expanses, the slowness of time and the ancestral fervour of religious services. The low voices, the signature of this liturgy, anchor the music in an almost telluric depth, while the high voices rise like a breath of incense under the golden domes. Through this dense and meditative polyphony, Rachmaninov composes a prayer in which mysticism, silence and contemplation are mixed. This concert will end the festival with a sound pilgrimage, where our journey will end in the fervent intimacy of the sacred.

Vox Luminis

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €25

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Sébastien)

Vox Luminis takes us on a real journey through time, offering the Stavelot audience a very fine selection of Jean-Sébastien Bach's motets, music from which the Leipzig Cantor draws its sources from the chorale tradition as imagined by Martin Luther in the 16th century. To the simplicity of the origins of the genre, Bach brings all his knowledge in the expression of emotions, transforming these prayers into real baroque paintings endowed with the colors of the instruments and intense fervour.

Satellite set

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

The beautiful transcription for string trio of Bach's Goldberg Variations will lead the Satellite Ensemble to the intense and passionate music of the Dutch composer Emmy Frensel Wegener. And it is with the work of another composer played, also, for the first time at the Stavelot Festival, that the 2025 winners of the “Génération Classique” competition will demonstrate their communicative energy. Of Jewish origin and born in 1919 in Poland, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, is one of the witnesses of the tragic destiny of certain artists during this tormented period; refugee in the USSR, his career will be littered with obstacles from which he manages to get out, among others thanks to the help of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Conference by Jérôme Lejeune

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

In the imagery of emerging German Romanticism, Carl Maria von Weber represents aspects that his two famous contemporaries, Beethoven and Schubert, did not illustrate. On the one hand, it is due to the seductive virtuosity that he brilliantly handles on the piano, and that he also entrusts to instruments in full development, such as the clarinet. This aspect will be illustrated live by two young musicians from our region. But it is especially in the field of opera that he is the most innovative, with works whose dramatic intensity and sense of fantasy deeply inspired composers such as Richard Wagner to the next generation. Weber is also a theater director, and in this field, he has developed new visions that have revolutionized the way opera houses are organized.

WOLF

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Sébastien)

Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz is the absolute model of German romantic opera and we know that Richard Wagner held it in very high esteem. Since its creation, arrangers have continued to offer transcriptions for all sorts of instruments. In cities where theaters with the capacity for such fantastic performances did not exist, this practice certainly contributed to the publicity and dissemination of its impressive openness, as well as the most popular arias and choruses. The version by Karl Flachs from Berlin for wind ensemble dates from 1822.

The Danish Clarinet Trio

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

Among the innovations of the classical period was also the appearance of new instruments. Mozart was certainly responsible for the first “letters of nobility” of the clarinet, for which he found a magnificent virtuoso in the person of Anton Stadler. Certainly the cello is not a “newcomer” but, in the work of Beethoven, who wanted to seduce the Prussian king Frederick William II who, in his spare time, played the cello, the assertion of its melodic and expressive role is completely new in the field of chamber music. As far as Brahms is concerned, it was the encounter with the virtuoso Richard Mühlfeld, which prompted him to write for the clarinet. Inexperienced in the solo use of this instrument, he referred to the model from Beethoven's opus 11 to imagine this first composition where the clarinet dialogues with the cello.

The Danish Clarinet Trio

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

Impromptu Trio

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

Frédéric Chopin composed very few chamber music works. Apart from a few pieces for cello, mainly those dedicated to his friend Auguste Franchomme, the Trio op. 8 is his most important composition in this field. Passionate about the melodies of Italian opera, it is in his Nocturnes that he best transcribes their spirit and lyricism. Franz Schubert's 2nd Trio op. 100 is one of the last compositions in his extensive chamber music catalog. Its moving slow motion has been used many times as film music, the most famous being Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.

Gaelle Solal & the Ardeo Quartet

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

The first string quartet of Villa-Lobos unfolds imbued with a certain nostalgia, animated by rhythms of dance in a popular style and ending in a comical fantasy and with a humorous fugue. Born in 1863 in Rio de Janeiro, Ernesto Nazareth is one of the first known composers of Brazilian origin; his music never ceases to bridge the gap between European models and the rich popular traditions of his country, which is what makes all the charm of his piano pieces transcribed here for guitar and string quartet. And the guitar alone will also be in the spotlight with two concerto cadences, one, that of Villa-Lobos, having become a “classic”, the other, from the pen of a young Latin American composer, symbolizing the vitality of the instrument's new repertoire.

Lorenzo Gatto & Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

This program invites you on a journey through the landscapes of the sonata, an intimate and expressive form par excellence. From the elegant and singing light of Fauré to the delicate and pictorial shades of Aquarelles de Jongen, the listener is guided to contrasting and sensitive worlds. Schubert's Wanderer Fantasia, a work of movement and transformation, embodies romantic wandering and the impulse to elsewhere. As an echo, Brahms's second sonata offers a warm and profound pause, where lyricism and serenity respond. Between passion, contemplation and energy, this concert weaves a musical journey where each work becomes a stage, a landscape, an emotion — a real journey full of sonatas.

Lorenzo Gatto & Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

KARAVAN & Simon Leleux

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (BE)

Founded in 2024 by Lorenzo Gatto, the Karavan ensemble sees music as a journey, where rhythm carries the story and sound becomes a meeting place — as evidenced by their first album Open Road.In Stavelot, the ensemble is presenting the Bach meets East project for the first time in Belgium for the first time in Belgium, the ensemble presents the Bach meets East project, alongside violinist Ambi Subramaniam and percussionist Simon Leleux. This encounter gives rise to a living dialogue between two musical worlds. At the heart of the program, a rereading of Bach's Second Partita for solo violin. The famous Chaconne becomes an open space, where writing naturally extends into improvisation. The lines evolve, the rhythms breathe differently, and new colors appear — until music that is both unexpected and familiar is heard.

Zemlinsky Quartet & Bennewitz Quartet

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

Unfortunately, two “hits” from the string quartet's repertoire are facing a monument! too unknown. For Schubert and Dvořák, the Quartetsatz and the so-called “American” Quartet are mature works that, since their creation, have established themselves among the great masterpieces of the repertoire. Georges Enescu was 14 when he arrived in Paris in 1895. Dazzled by the musical life of the French capital, he quickly established himself there as an incredibly inventive composer, writing this Octet at the age of 19 in a form unprecedented for French music of the time. Two Prague quartets put it on their desks, responding to a request from the Stavelot Festival.

Zemlinsky Quartet & Bennewitz Quartet

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Réfectoire des Moines - Abbaye de Stavelot)

Lucile Richardot, Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastien Daucé, ed.

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Jacques)

Winner of the 2025 Victoires de la Musique Classique, Lucile Richardot, accompanied by Sébastien Daucé and the Correspondances ensemble, takes us to the heart of the Swedish court in the 17th century. In Stockholm, under the reign of Charles XI, the Kapellmeister Gustav Düben made the Swedish court a real European musical crossroads. German, Italian and Baltic composers meet there and shape an aesthetic of rare uniqueness, where all the richness and finesse of Nordic Baroque are revealed!

Rachel Podger

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Salle académique de l’ULiège)

With Tutta Sola, Rachel Podger — the most eminent British representative of the Baroque violin — explores the art of solo violin around the year 1700. While Bach spontaneously dominates the imaginary of the solo repertoire, he is neither the first nor the only one to have shaped this daring territory of senza basso. Alongside his famous pages, Podger showcases the works of Vilsmayr, Matteis and even Westhoff: a baroque journey of intimate virtuosity, where preludes, dances and fugues reveal the flamboyant creativity of unparalleled violinist-composers!

Micrologus

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Salle académique de l’ULiège)

Avec Viaggio a Napoli, Micrologus nous plonge au cœur de la Naples aragonaise du XVe siècle, l’une des cours les plus fastueuses d’Europe. On y cultive les strambotti, balli, canciones et autres barzellette qui composent un paysage sonore foisonnant, nourri des influences italiennes, espagnoles et françaises. Patrizia Bovi et ses musiciens recréent l’atmosphère vibrante des fêtes publiques et des divertissements privés de l’aristocratie napolitaine. Un voyage immersif dans un âge d’or où la musique façonnait le prestige et la joie de toute une cité.

Lark's Echoes

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Eglise Saint-Servais (Liège))

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland in 2026, tenor Maxime Melnik and lutenist Adriaan Lauwers extend their musical complicity born at Les Nuits de Septembre 2022 by paying a sensitive and embodied tribute to the master of lute song. They bring together a selection of famous songs for voice and lute (and orpharion!), punctuated by the composer's emblematic instrumental pieces.

OPENING CONCERT TCHAIKOVSKY / SHOSTAKOVICH

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

It is with Tchaikovsky’s inimitable First Piano Concerto that Lionel Bringuier opens his season: a sovereign work whose untamed fervor, its Cossack fire igniting brass and strings, and its popular melodies give an irresistible flavor to the “king of concertos.” The Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov, renowned for his phenomenal virtuosity, promises a dazzling interpretation. Shostakovich’s all-too-rare Sixth Symphony (1939), in three asymmetrical movements, subverts the classical model of the Soviet symphony. Inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, the vast slow movement—tragic and introspective—embodies Stalinist terror. The two other movements, fast, ironic, and driven by a forced joy, serve as a mask to parody the regime’s official optimism. A quintessential subversive masterpiece…

TCHAIKOVSKY / SHOSTAKOVICH

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Gand)

TCHAIKOVSKY / SHOSTAKOVICH

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Songs of Travel

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Salle académique de l’ULiège)

A musical journey through EnglandAt the turn of the 20th century, England saw the emergence of composers deeply linked to poetry and voice. From Vaughan Williams to Britten, from Finzi to Gurney, their songs explore travel in all its forms — wandering, contemplation, inner journey — and are part of the continuity of an ancient tradition, which draws on Shakespeare or Elizabethan poems. Each word becomes a stopover and each note, a step towards infinity, revealing an England that is at once sensitive, lyrical and, as a perfect heir to Dowland, deeply attached to its literary and musical heritage.

Valère Burnon

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €36

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

“Valère Burnon does not shy away from rubato, nor from tenderness, nor from the infinite expansion of phrases, yet everything here is perfectly controlled, at once distanced and deeply invested.” — MUSIQ’3 At 27, the Belgian pianist Valère Burnon saw his career take off when he won Third Prize at the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Competition, along with the Audience Prizes from Musiq’3 and VRT. After a Debussy Prelude establishing the theme of night, he performs two excerpts from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, Olivier Messiaen’s vast, richly colored fresco, continues his journey with Claude Ledoux’s The Caressing Sounds of Evening and Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, one of the greatest piano masterpieces of the 20th century, before highlighting the formal perfection of Schubert’s most expansive sonata.

Consort La Capriola

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Salle académique de l’ULiège)

From dusk to dawn, the young consort La Capriola follows the itinerary of a consort of Renaissance violins, then omnipresent in the daily lives of Italians. From lively alleys to taverns, from elegant lounges to the basilica, where the majestic works of Willaert and Merulo resound, each stage reveals the many faces of the vibrant musical life that surrounded the famous Venetian square.

David Kadouch, Sheva Tehoval, Or Notes Brass

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Perwez - Ferme de la Petite Cense)

Territoire inexploré, promesse de renouveau, pays de tous les excès ou réalité ambiguë, l’Amérique a apporté à la musique classique un élan et une vitalité nouvelle, nourrie par le métissage des cultures. C’est cette diversité que nous célébrons, grâce à des musiciens d’exception! Le merveilleux pianiste David Kadouch est rejoint par la soprano Sheva Tehoval, lauréate du Concours Reine Elisabeth, et par le formidable quintette de cuivres Or Notes Brass. Ensemble, ils nous emmèneront dans cette Amérique fascinante et paradoxale, dans un concert qui culminera sur le célèbre Rhapsody in Blue de Gershwin! - Distribution: David Kadouch, piano / Sheva Tehoval, soprano / Or Notes Brass ‍

The King Who Still Didn't Like Music

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €15

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Ferme du Biéreau)

An adventure as melodious as it is wonderful... This musical show tells the adventures of a king who did not like music and his very small group of musicians. Together, they take us on a sonic and poetic journey to share as a family. The grumpy and authoritarian king had banned music from his kingdom, but over the course of encounters and discoveries, this sovereign gradually lets himself be touched by sounds and rhythms from elsewhere... until leading his people to mysterious Jazzikistan, a country where music has the power to transform hearts and make them happy.A A tender, funny and exotic tale that invites young and old alike to (re) discover the wonders of music!

Ensemble Danguy

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Denis)

Les Quatre Saisons ont connu mille métamorphoses, mais rarement aussi savoureuses que celles imaginées au XVIIIᵉ siècle par Nicolas Chédeville. Au cœur de l’âge d’or de la vielle et de la musette, ce musicien français transpose en 1739 trois concertos de Vivaldi puis en compose trois autres à partir du même matériel qu'il publie sous le nom du compositeur italien, créant une Arcadie musicale où l’original et la copie s’entremêlent. Avec Tobie Miller à la vielle à roue, cette version historique fait revivre un XVIIIᵉ siècle pastoral et inventif où se côtoient travestissement musical et jeu d’identité.

Jean Rondeau, Quatuor de violes de gambe

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Eglise Saint-Martin (Tourinnes-la-Grosse))

Le retour, si propre à la musique: cet élan de répétition et de redite qui entraîne les lignes musicales dans des boucles et, par cette asymétrie, génère une tension ineffable, souterraine. Ce programme se veut comme un fil tendu et continu qui, alternant entre l’écrit et l’improvisé, puise dans un répertoire dont les familiarités communes transcendent les époques et les styles. On y retrouvera des pièces d’aujourd’hui qui font écho à celles d’hier, tout comme des œuvres du passé, visionnaires, qui, par fulgurances, s’extraient de leur époque. C’est une invitation à une immersion dans le son, au-delà du style. - Distribution: Jean Rondeau, orgue positif et virginal / Robin Pharo, viole de gambe / Anna Lachegyi, viole de gambe / Josh Cheatham, viole de gambe / Agnès Boissonnot, viole de gambe

Stephanie Van Vyve, Florian Noack

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Centre culturel de Nivelles - Waux-Hall)

Designed based on the canvases of the painter Viktor Hartmann, Mussorgsky composes his “Pictures at an Exhibition” as a kind of walk, a pretext for phantasmagorical visions: the evocation of a desolate ruin (Il Vecchio Castello) next to the heavy convoy dragged by an ox (Bydlo) the macabre scenes (Catacombs) announce the appearance of a witch (Baba-Yaga) before the work does not end on a monumental note (The Great Gate of Kiev). This show, originally created for the Philharmonie de Paris, combines piano, narration and visual projections to immerse the viewer in 19th century Russia.

Cécile Poss, Shirly Laub & the Musiq3 Festival Orchestra

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Nicolas)

Offering true answers to common misconceptions – this is the angle Cécile Poss has chosen for her captivating podcast « ça part en fugue ». Exploring legends, rumors, and preconceived notions, it combines historical facts, surprising anecdotes, and historical research to shed light on what we think we know. It's a lively and enlightening immersion where myth meets reality, revealing Mozart in a light as human as it is fascinating. For the Festival, « Ca part en fugue » presents its 'live' version, accompanied by the Festival's string orchestra, comprising the best students from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, under the direction of Shirly Laub. Opening the program, Ensemble Satellite – three young musicians, winners of the Supernova competition and first prize recipients of Génération classiques – will take us off the beaten path!

Dialogos

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Saint-Denis)

On February 19, 964, the Canons of Winchester Cathedral were expelled by Bishop Aethelwold and replaced by monks from Abingdon because they were “perverse, scandalous and lost in drunkenness” — at least according to Wulfstan, an acerbic witness and poet of his time. The monks take possession of the choir under the shouts, the songs and the tumult. A thousand years later, around the sumptuous polyphonies of the Troparia in Winchester, four musicians in turn stand on the steps of an imaginary choir to revive this clash between two worlds: insiders against outsiders and the past against the present.

Songs of Travel

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Église Sainte-Catherine de Plancenoit)

Two completely opposed characters travel the same path: that of a musical journey. One rooted in Elizabethan England and the classical repertoire, the other focused on Broadway and American modernity. Between melodies by Vaughan Williams, Britten, Butterworth or Finzi and forays into music-hall and musical comedy, their trajectories gradually intersect. Central to the program, Songs of Travel becomes the place where they meet: an inner journey where a desire for elsewhere, memories of love and the quest for self are mixed.

Mozart / Beethoven

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €48

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

For his debut with the OPRL, the renowned Dutch conductor Ton Koopman moves between the final brilliance of Viennese Classicism and the promises of a new world. With his “Jupiter” Symphony (1788), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart brings architectural clarity, intricate melodic interplay, and the Enlightenment ideal of harmony to its ultimate point of balance. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 (1803), while still rooted in this tradition, shifts its foundations: rhythmic complexity, heightened dynamic contrasts, and the primacy of expressive drive foreshadow a modernity based on energy, tension, and the assertion of subjectivity. Romanticism is on the way…

Our Indoor Mornings | Sat, Oct 3, 26 - 8 pm | EKINOX

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Théâtre le Manège)

A stroll through the heart of the practice of juggling Bringing together ten jugglers accompanied by the Debussy Quartet, Our Inner Mornings is a large-scale ode to the practice of juggling. On stage, the music of Purcell and Marc Mellits blends with impressive collective choreography as well as sensitive portraits of the performers, in a show of breathtaking mastery that will delight young and old alike. For three decades, the Debussy Quartet has been constantly reinventing the art of string quartet and chamber music, shaking up the codes without ever betraying the essence of its game. He has established himself as a singular and essential figure in the international musical landscape.

Quatuor Fustier

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Le Prieuré)

All it took was one meeting and a few minutes of music to convince our artistic director to invite David Castro-Balbi! An unclassifiable artist, a curious virtuoso from all walks of life, it is with three other musicians no less exceptional that he will come to the festival for the first time. From gypsy tunes to Argentine tango, from Spanish folia to Irish music, this concert promises a vibrant and festive musical journey!

Peaceful forest

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 07:30:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Colomban)

Quelques sifflements d’oiseaux et la lueur des premières étoiles nous plongent dans une nuit captivante, où surgissent des voix portant les vibrations puissantes du répertoire baroque. Deux petits êtres joueurs, mi-humains, mi-mammifères, nous guident dans ce voyage nocturne, bientôt rejoints par des créatures aériennes aux voix limpides. Forêt Paisible invite les tout-petits à célébrer la beauté de la nature et du vivant, enveloppés par quatre voix accompagnées de métallophones, dans un espace pensé comme un lieu de jeu, de découvertes visuelles, sonores et tactiles. - Distribution complète: ‍ Amélie Renglet, Julie Vercauteren, Tom Van Bogaert, Maxime Jermann, solistes du Chœur de Chambre de Namur / Marie Havaux, co-direction artistique, arrangements, métallophone soprano & basse / Erika Meda, co-direction artistique, scénographie, mise en scène / Pascal Georis, création lumière ‍

Forêt Paisible (2,5ans-5ans)

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Colomban)

The new piano has arrived

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

A historic day for Arsonic! Our stage welcomes its new jewel: a Steinway D piano, an absolute reference for the greatest concert halls. To celebrate this significant arrival, ten renowned pianists will follow one another during a festive and virtuoso concert. Under their fingers, this exceptional instrument will reveal all the magic of its nuances in the setting of our incomparable acoustics. A concert-event where musical sharing will be in the spotlight!

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (La Sucrerie (Wavre))

At the time of writing, the winner of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Competition, dedicated to the cello, is not yet known. But it's a tradition! It's in the iconoclast Gulda Concerto, which oscillates between classical, jazz and rock, that he/she will close the edition of the Musiq3 Brabant Wallon Festival, alongside the Orchestre du Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, conducted by Robin Engelen!

Le piano nouveau est arrivé

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 17:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

Journée historique pour Arsonic qui accueille son nouveau joyau. Notre scène accueille son nouveau joyau: un piano Steinway D, référence absolue des plus grandes salles de concert dans l’écrin d'une acoustique incomparable. Pour célébrer cette arrivée significative, dix pianistes de renom se succéderont lors d’un concert festif et virtuose. Sous leurs doigts, cet instrument d’exception révélera toute la magie de ses nuances dans l’écrin de notre acoustique incomparable. Un concert-événement où le partage musical sera à l’honneur!

Songs of Travel

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:30:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Congrès)

Songs of Travel

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

Peaceful forest

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:30:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Hangar)

Forêt Paisible (2,5ans - 5ans)

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Hangar)

Satellite set

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Société littéraire - Liège)

Winner of Génération Classique 2025, the Ensemble Satellite offers a chamber music program where repertoire and creation dialogue intensively. Génération Classique, a springboard for Wallonia Festivals, accompanies emerging ensembles every year to the professional stages.

Manu Comté - Varese Quartet

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Congrès)

Sensations is a musical journey between heritage and creation. The starting point is Five Tango Sensations by Astor Piazzolla, an emblematic work born from the artistic encounter between Manu Comté and the Varese Quartet. The five movements in this suite — sleepiness, love, love, anxiety, anxiety, wakefulness, and fear — constitute the emotional matrix of creation. Between each movement, an original piece by Gerardo Jerez Le Cam extends and enriches the work to form a large series of ten musical sensations. It is not a question of rewriting Piazzolla, but of creating a contemporary, sensitive and free echo of it, inspired by the first sensations without imitating them. This play of reflections and contrasts offers a new look at Piazzolla's work.

Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

Join us on this musical journey across centuries and continents, where each work becomes a stopover, each composer a guide. From Renaissance polyphonic singing to contemporary sounds, music invites you on a sensitive, geographical as well as internal journey. From Roland de Lassus to Michel Lysight via Vivaldi, Mozart and Piazzolla, let's celebrate the diversity of cultures together, recalling that music is an art of passage, movement and encounter.

Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €55

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

With his Second Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninoff confronts the silence left by the failure of his First. The work does not aim for display but for expansion: elongated melodies, unabashed lyricism, and dense orchestration with a continuous undercurrent of melancholy. From the very first bars, the music unfolds in waves, as the composer establishes an atmosphere of rare intensity. Composer-in-residence Carlos Simon offers a double concerto, an OPRL co-commission, written for international star violinist Hilary Hahn.

Georges-Lucas Ilouridzé & Marina Ksovreli

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi -- La Réserve)

Le duo Vent d’Est, formé par Georges-Lucas Ilouridzé à la clarinette et Marina Ksovreli au piano, nous invite à un voyage musical au cœur des mélodies d’Europe de l’Est. Leur complicité, nourrie par un profond lien mère-fils, sublime ce programme dans lequel tradition et écriture raffinée s’entrelacent avec élégance. Dans un dialogue expressif, le lyrisme se mêle aux rythmes dansants et aux élans passionnés. Lauréat de nombreux prix dès son plus jeune âge, Georges-Lucas Ilouridzé mène aujourd’hui une carrière de concertiste et d’enseignant. Sa mère, Marina Ksovreli, pianiste diplômée du conservatoire de Tbilissi, poursuit la sienne en Belgique depuis 1998. Ensemble, ils font vivre un répertoire imprégné de leur héritage culturel. Une invitation à la découverte et au partage. - Georges-Lucas Ilouridzé, clarinette / Marina Ksovreli, piano ‍

André Manoukian

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €36

Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts — Grande salle)

André Manoukian, pianist, author and composer, goes beyond his media image. After Anouch, a tribute to his grandmother who survived the Armenian Genocide, he is pursuing an intimate and musical quest for his origins. With La Sultane, he celebrates his little sister, nicknamed “my sultane” by their mother. On stage, a complicit quartet, led by Mosin Kawa, Indian tabla virtuoso percussionist, with whom he shaped the project. For the occasion, Manoukian enriched her universe with artists such as the singer Arpi Alto and the percussionist Anissa Nehar. Between jazz and Armenian sounds, between improvisation and the memory of traditions, this concert takes us on a musical journey where each moment weaves a link between East and West. A rare evening, to be experienced intensely.

Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €55

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Masterclass Vittorio Forte

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Congrès)

Le pianiste Vittorio Forte animera une masterclass en compagnie de trois étudiant·e·s d’ARTS 2. Ouverte au public, cette séance de travail offrira un aperçu concret du dialogue entre un artiste confirmé et la jeune génération, au cœur du processus d’apprentissage et de transmission musicale. Une occasion privilégiée d’observer le travail d’interprétation au plus près.

Vittorio Forte

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Congrès)

After a noon concert dedicated to Russian composers in 2025, the Italian pianist Vittorio Forte returns to the PBA with a project dedicated to Latin American music: Volver. A true musical stroll, this recital takes us through the works of Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, Gardel and other lesser-known but equally striking figures. Each piece reveals the richness of the Latin American traditions of their time. This concert also celebrates Vittorio Forte's artistic roots by paying tribute to the Argentine pianist José Lepore who encouraged him to devote himself fully to the piano. Volver is a return to the roots, between melancholy and a surge of freedom, where music becomes the common thread of a story that is both personal and universal.

Satellite set

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

Musicatreize | Sun, Oct 11, 26 - 6 p.m. | EKINOX

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Mars - Arsonic)

Under the inspired direction of Roland Hayrabedian, the exceptional vocal ensemble Musicatreize, born in Marseille, has been forging a fascinating dialogue between the Renaissance and today's creation for nearly forty years. From Roland de Lassus to Olivier Messiaen, via Philippe Hersant, twelve brilliantly sensitive voices celebrate the modernity and poetry of collective singing in a program as rare as it is intense.

Celine Scheen, Luciana Mancini & L'Arpeggiata

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Salle Philharmonique)

Traditional and Baroque music from Spain and South AmericaAt the foot of the Torre del Oro in Seville, from where galleons once sailed to the New World, blossoms the music of Alonso Mudarra, the Sevillian grandmaster of vihuela — this string instrument of Aragonese origin, this string instrument of Aragonese origin, cousin of the lute — and a pioneer figure in the first accompanied solo arias. Based on her folías, tientos, canzones and villancicos, where popular traditions and scholarly writing respond with finesse, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L'Arpeggiata undertake a musical crossing of the Atlantic. The ensemble creates a dialogue between the elegance of the Spanish Renaissance and the Baroque legacies of South America. From the rhythms of Spain to the pulsations of the Andes, a shared history is thus woven: that of music in motion, which travels, metamorphoses and continues to resonate, from one shore of the ocean to the other.

La torre del oro

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €34

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

At the foot of the Torre del Oro in Seville—where ships once set sail for the New World—flourished the music of Alonso Mudarra, the great Sevillian master of the vihuela, a string instrument of Aragonese origin related to the lute, and a pioneering figure of early accompanied solo song. Drawing on his folías, tientos, canzones and villancicos, in which popular traditions and learned writing intertwine with subtlety, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata undertake a musical crossing of the Atlantic. The ensemble brings together the elegance of the Spanish Renaissance with the Baroque heritage of South America. From the rhythms of Spain to the pulses of the Andes, a shared history unfolds: that of a music in motion, traveling, transforming, and continuing to resonate from one shore of the ocean to the other.

Satellite set

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:30:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi — Congrès)

Strings in the Spotlight

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Five OPRL musicians invite you to discover major works written for string ensemble. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quintet No. 6 is among his final chamber works. Written around the same time as The Magic Flute, it captivates with its simple, luminous, and joyful melodies. This radiant atmosphere is also found in Johannes Brahms’s String Quintet No. 2, a mature work in which the composer confidently asserts his musical voice. Finally, American composer Carlos Simon, artist-in-residence at the OPRL, reflects on the Covid period, when daily life seemed to go in circles—like an “endless loop”—during the 2020 lockdown.

The planets. Transatlantic visions

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Collégiale Sainte-Waudru)

Are you interested in transatlantic viewsObserving the cosmos from a transatlantic at full speed? It is the journey between England and America that the ARTS² Orchestra offers you, with students from the École Supérieure de Musique et de Danse de Lille, under the direction of Nicolas Krüger. It will celebrate Benjamin Britten on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, with an American Overture that recalls his stay in the United States and his stylistic connivance with Aaron Copland. It will lead us to the symphonic suite The Planets, by Gustav Holst, one of the most popular masterpieces in the British repertoire, which also opened the door to a lot of music from the Golden Age of Hollywood! And as the United States discovered a new planet in 1930, the British composer Colin Matthews added Pluto to the famous suite, in a dense and remarkable piece of color. A concert that unquestionably deserves the Blue Ribbon, aka the Blue Ribbon!

Les Planètes: visions transatlantiques

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Les Festivals de Wallonie (Palais des Beaux-Arts — Grande salle)

Are you interested in observing the cosmos from a transatlantic at full speed? It is the journey between England and America that the ARTS² Orchestra offers you, with students from the École Supérieure de Musique et de Danse de Lille, under the direction of Nicolas Krüger. It will celebrate Benjamin Britten on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, with an American Overture that recalls his stay in the United States and his stylistic connivance with Aaron Copland. It will lead us to the symphonic suite The Planets, by Gustav Holst, one of the most popular masterpieces in the British repertoire, which also opened the door to a lot of music from the Golden Age of Hollywood! And as the United States discovered a new planet in 1930, the British composer Colin Matthews added Pluto to the famous suite, in a dense and remarkable piece of color. A concert that unquestionably deserves the Blue Ribbon, aka the Blue Ribbon! - Distribution: ARTS² Symphonic Orchestra and Choirs - Royal Conservatory of Mons, in collaboration with ESMD, École Supérieure de Musique et de Danse de Lille/Anthony Vigneron, Choirmaster/Nicolas Krüger, Choirmaster/Nicolas Krüger, director

Give me my money back!

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Boos, scathing reviews, doors slamming: some pieces of music began their lives as spectacular failures. Too modern, too loud, too unsettling… in short, misunderstood. This programme immerses you in the great “flops” of history that later became masterpieces—where scandal often propels music forward faster than success. With Pierre Solot and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, discover how failure can turn into dazzling triumph. Ages 13 and up

Give me my money back!

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Dutilleux / Elgar

Thu, 12 Nov 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Mons)

Composed in 1951, Symphony No. 1 by Henri Dutilleux unveils a strikingly original sound world: radiant colours, taut motifs, vibrant poetry—everything pulses with a mysterious energy that defies the dogmas of the avant-garde. A captivating masterpiece to rediscover! Completed in 1919, in the shadow of the First World War, the Cello Concerto by the British composer Edward Elgar is a deeply moving meditation, an elegy in memory of a vanished world, where lyricism becomes intimate and poignant. Victor Julien-Laferrière, unforgettable First Prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2017, conveys its intense and gripping emotion.

Dutilleux / Elgar

Fri, 13 Nov 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

The Breath of Notre-Dame

Sun, 15 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €22

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

“Whether improvising or performing from memory the most demanding pages of the repertoire, Dubois displays a rare musicality among organists.” — BBC Music Magazine Titulaire of the great organ of Notre-Dame de Paris since 2016 and recognized as one of the most brilliant organists on the international scene, Vincent Dubois opens his recital with one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most popular works, followed by pieces by leading Parisian organ composers: from Franck’s Second Chorale to the vast fresco by Maurice Duruflé on the hymn Veni Creator, as well as Saint-Saëns’s highly orchestral Danse macabre. He concludes with his own transcription of the Rigaudon, Menuet, and Toccata from Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin. Magnificent!

Benjamin Grosvenor

Sun, 29 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €36

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

“Pianism of the highest order.” BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW The outstanding pianist Benjamin Grosvenor returns to Liège for a recital covering more than two centuries of musical literature. The program features Sofia Gubaidulina’s rich and virtuosic Chaconne; a “Parisian” sonata by Mozart, already tinged with pre-Romantic character; Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata, famous for its opening movement shaped like a funeral march; Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2, inspired by seascapes and a storm in Italy; Liszt’s three Petrarch Sonnets, marked by delicate lyricism; and finally Chopin’s Sonata No. 2, whose deeply moving Funeral March forms the heart of the work.

Quartet in chiaroscuro

Tue, 01 Dec 2026 10:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Founded in 2025 within the OPRL, the Andriesii Quartet opens the concert with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11, an intense and tormented work. Sketched in 1810, it was composed during a difficult period in the composer’s life, marked by romantic disappointments and deep inner turmoil. Beethoven himself described it as a Quartetto serioso, reflecting the raw emotion that runs through the piece. A shift in atmosphere follows with Debussy’s only String Quartet, composed in 1892. A work of full maturity, it reveals a rich sonic imagination, blending ancient and modern influences with exotic colors in a free and radiant style. Finally, in Warmth from Other Suns, Carlos Simon—composer-in-residence at the OPRL—depicts the mass exodus of African Americans fleeing the southern United States between 1916 and 1970.

Tableaux pittoresques

Fri, 04 Dec 2026 18:15:00 GMT

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Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Bruxelles)

Composed in 1917 in England, the Tableaux pittoresques by the Liège-born composer Joseph Jongen radiate optimism and colour: pastoral evocations, dances, mountainous landscapes and popular festivities succeed one another in delightfully contrasting movements. The work is dedicated to Queen Elisabeth and is included in the programme celebrating the 150th anniversary of the sovereign. Faithful to her spirit of patronage and her support for young talent, the concert will bring together artists and professors from the Chapelle Musicale, in virtuosic works of the repertoire such as the sublime Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius, a pinnacle of lyricism and intensity.

Tableaux pittoresques

Sat, 05 Dec 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €48

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Winter is coming

Wed, 09 Dec 2026 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

When a wall of ice appears on the horizon, we know something important is coming… In music too, winter grips you by the throat: it is tension, anticipation, a gentle or violent threat. Between sonic storms, frozen landscapes and long musical nights, Pierre Solot guides you through this icy realm where every note seems to shiver. Bring your coats: the Orchestra will take care of raising the chill.

Winter is coming

Thu, 10 Dec 2026 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

100 % Chopin

Fri, 11 Dec 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €39

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

The Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie celebrates the poetic genius of Frédéric Chopin through two major works from his concert repertoire. Composed in 1830 when he was only twenty, the First Concerto already bears the imprint of the lyricism and nostalgia that will run through all his work — a deep melancholy in affinity with the sensitivity of Yves Henry, one of the most respected interpreters of pianistic Romanticism. With the Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante, Frédéric Chopin combines the airy melodic line of Italian bel canto (Vincenzo Bellini) with a heroic writing style, with proud and almost revolutionary accents.

Sheherazade

Thu, 17 Dec 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €36

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Sheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov brings to life a legendary Orient, as imagined by Russian Romanticism, in a richly sumptuous orchestration. The violin embodies the voice of the mythical storyteller Sheherazade, who suspends the sultan’s fury through the sheer power of her tales. The Belgian conductor David Reiland conducts the work before a special post-concert meeting with the audience. Trained under Simon Rattle and Roger Norrington, he is Music Director of the Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est and the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, and teaches conducting at the Conservatoire royal de Liège.

Christmas Concert: Scheherazade

Fri, 18 Dec 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

A masterpiece of musical Orientalism, whose popularity spanned the entire 19th century, Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1888) is one of the pinnacles of descriptive music, inspired by the stories of Sinbad, Prince Kalender, and the wondrous heroes of One Thousand and One Nights. Joyful, radiant, and full of beautiful, energetic melodies, the Trumpet Concerto by Joseph Haydn, premiered in Vienna in 1796, is the last jewel written for the instrument in the Classical era and one of the signature pieces of the young German trumpeter Simon Höfele, a leading figure in contemporary trumpet performance.

Christmas Concert: Scheherazade

Sat, 19 Dec 2026 18:00:00 GMT

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Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Namur)

Christmas Concert: Scheherazade

Sun, 20 Dec 2026 14:00:00 GMT

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Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Dortmund)

New Year’s Concert: Mahler “Titan”

Fri, 08 Jan 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €55

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

A youthful work in which evocations of nature, popular fanfares, a funeral march on the nursery tune Frère Jacques, and klezmer-inspired themes coexist, Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony (1888) already reveals the composer’s extraordinary ambition: to contain, within the symphonic form, the diversity and vastness of the world. With Les nuits d’été, a cycle of six poems by Théophile Gautier originally composed for voice and piano, Hector Berlioz lays the foundations of a new melodic world, freed from the sentimentality of the romance. The orchestral version, conducted by Lionel Bringuier, unfolds with expressive richness the full depth of these emotions, here enhanced by the warm, amber timbre of Stéphanie d’Oustrac.

New Year’s Concert: Mahler “Titan”

Sat, 09 Jan 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Metz)

The Awakening of the Titan

Sun, 10 Jan 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €19

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

[Maestro] Me, I’m Gustav—Gustav Mahler. I am a conductor at the Budapest Opera, and one day I will be in Vienna: two prestigious musical capitals! I will even conduct my own music one day at the Salle Philharmonique in Liège… I am also a composer. I love drawing inspiration from the sounds of nature and village life. Everything fascinates me: shaping the infinite colors offered by musicians, imagining the inclusion of folk dances, gypsy songs, birdsong, or even Frère Jacques as a funeral march! I also know how to move from the faintest sound to the most dazzling heights… My First Symphony will be called “Titan.” It will open up a new world. My power as a composer will carry you into the future, just before stepping into the 20th century. Who will follow me on this adventure? Recommended age: 9 and up

Beethoven, Eroica

Fri, 15 Jan 2027 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €36

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

There is a before and an after Beethoven’s Eroica. With this visionary symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven profoundly reshapes the course of music history, creating a work of unprecedented dramatic force, driven by a bold sense of heroism that paves the way for the Romantic movement. Under the direction of Elena Schwarz, the musicians of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège will reveal its full power, tension, and poetry. At the end of the concert, the audience will have the opportunity to meet the Swiss-Australian conductor, originally trained as a cellist, former assistant to Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles, Associate Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor-in-Residence at the Klangforum Wien from 2024 to 2026.

Beethoven, Eroica

Sat, 16 Jan 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €48

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Composed in 2012, the extraordinary Absolute Jest by John Adams, for string quartet and orchestra, draws on half a dozen fragments by Ludwig van Beethoven—notably from his late string quartets—and propels them into an incandescent rhythmic flow, combining exuberant virtuosity, wit, and raw energy. Written between 1803 and 1804, the Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” emerges at the dawn of Romanticism as a groundbreaking work. Initially dedicated to Bonaparte, it soon frees itself from the figure of the triumphant hero. Ludwig van Beethoven shatters the framework of classical form, unfolding a music of tension, trial, and transcendence, in which the symphony becomes the stage for a gripping inner struggle of unprecedented scope.

A Cello in Italy

Sun, 17 Jan 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €19 – €24

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

From Antonio Vivaldi to Giovanni Sollima, three centuries of Italian music echo one another, with the radiant and virtuosic cello of Anastasia Kobekina as a narrator through time. Vivaldi blends brilliance with a festive spirit, much like Sollima’s Concerto perduto (“lost concerto”), in which, in 2021, he imagined a new work based on fragments of a cello concerto by the “Red Priest,” carefully preserved in Venice. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Charles Avison extend, in their own way, the virtuosity, clarity of form, and expressive freedom of the Italian Baroque, while opening the path toward the more sensitive language of the Galant style.

Anna Vinnitskaya

Sun, 24 Jan 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €36

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

“Virtuosity is just as evident as it is essential. And, above all, here it has the elegance of making itself forgotten, hidden behind poetry and passion.” RTBF Since winning the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007, Anna Vinnitskaya has been performing around the world, while regularly returning to Liège. Her recital opens with Claude Debussy’s Two Arabesques, brilliant and already highly personal works by the composer, and gives pride of place to Romanticism, with Frédéric Chopin’s Third Sonata, radiant with life and energy, the twilight-like Intermezzi Op. 117 by Johannes Brahms, a deeply moving musical testament, and the Variations on a Theme of Corelli by Sergei Rachmaninoff, the most accomplished of his major works.

Mozart, Concerto No. 20

Thu, 11 Feb 2027 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €39

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 opens with immediate drama: a minor key, incisive accents, and relentless tension give the work an almost theatrical intensity. Former laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Alexander Melnikov brings out its full power and poignant lyricism. As for Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 (1924), composed at the end of his life, it unfolds in a single continuous movement, where a solitary melody is transformed and developed with an intensity that is both mysterious and profoundly human. It is up to Karel Deseure to sculpt its hypnotic landscapes with luminous precision.

Mozart, Concerto No. 20

Fri, 12 Feb 2027 18:15:00 GMT

Tickets

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Bruxelles)

Mozart and the enchanted piano

Sun, 14 Feb 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €19

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

[Maestro] What if a piano could tell stories? In this narrated concert, meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a mischievous musical genius! You will discover excerpts from Les petits riens, music full of energy and surprises, followed by the famous Piano Concerto No. 20, where the piano dialogues with the orchestra like in a magical adventure. Listen, imagine, and let yourself be carried away on an enchanting musical journey! Recommended age: from 9 years

The piano at the heart of the strings

Tue, 16 Feb 2027 10:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Four members of the OPRL join Portuguese pianist Joana David to explore the rich universe of the piano and string quintet. The program opens with Fauré’s Quintet No. 1, a work composed at a pivotal moment in his life, as deafness led him toward a more inward and deeply poetic sound world. Next comes Taneyev’s Quintet, a vast, lyrical and energetic fresco, with dense and demanding writing, often (admiringly) compared to Brahms’s Quintet, a masterpiece of balance and expressive power that will conclude the concert.

Enigma

Wed, 17 Feb 2027 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

What if music concealed secret messages? Letters turned into notes, numbers hidden in rhythms, mysterious structures… some composers embedded real enigmas in their works. With Pierre Solot and the OPRL, set off in search of codes and invisible signatures, where every sound can become a clue. A concert like a musical treasure hunt, where the ear becomes a detective and silence an accomplice.

Enigma

Thu, 18 Feb 2027 16:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Shostakovich, Concerto No. 1

Fri, 26 Feb 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Written between 1947 and 1948 under the weight of the Stalinist regime, Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 unfolds an extreme tension and striking darkness. Behind formidable virtuosity, carried by the OPRL concertmaster George Tudorache, the violin becomes an inner voice: biting irony and fierce lyricism follow one another up to an implacably intense final passacaglia. With his Symphony No. 1, Brahms confronts the overwhelming shadow of Beethoven. Far from imitating him, he extends his vital momentum and expressive power, forging a work of struggle and transcendence, driven by a dark energy and raw emotion.

Journey to Lübeck

Sat, 27 Feb 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €19 – €24

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

In 1704, in the middle of winter, Johann Sebastian Bach undertakes a 400-kilometre walk to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck in order to meet the renowned organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. The journey begins in Arnstadt, the birthplace of Johann Michael Bach (1648–1694) and Johann Christoph Bach (1642–1703). By placing Christ lag in Todesbanden by Johann Sebastian Bach alongside works by composers of the previous generation, the programme seeks to contextualise his music and highlight its roots and development.

Shostakovich, Concerto No. 1

Mon, 01 Mar 2027 18:15:00 GMT

Tickets

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Turnhout)

Steve Reich, The desert music

Thu, 04 Mar 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €51

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Characteristic of the American school through its accessibility, raw energy, rich colours and urban rhythms, Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto (2005) finds in Evelyn Glennie a performer internationally acclaimed for her refined approach to timbre and her stage presence. In contrast, The Desert Music (1983), a cantata for choir and orchestra by Steve Reich, a major figure of minimalism, draws on texts by American poet William Carlos Williams to evoke arid landscapes, the tensions of the modern world, and the struggle for survival after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A hypnotic work, where loops and pulses shape a powerful sonic meditation, here performed by the Brussels Philharmonic.

Mozart and his Legacy

Sat, 13 Mar 2027 14:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €48

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

For its debut in Liège, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta unfolds its chamber colours around Mozart and his musical legacy. Written in 1779, his Sinfonia Concertante gives the viola, for the first time, a true solo role, placed on equal footing with the violin. It will feature the young violinist Daniel Lozakovich, one of today’s leading talents at Deutsche Grammophon. As for Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous Serenade for Strings, it was born as an homage to Mozart, whom the Russian composer regarded as the embodiment of musical purity and balance. Finally, 5 minutes in the life of W.A.M. offers an unusual and humorous fantasy based on various recycled Mozart motifs.

Schubert, The Unfinished

Fri, 19 Mar 2027 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €39

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Composed in 1822 and forgotten for nearly 40 years before being fortuitously rediscovered among a friend of Schubert, Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” is limited to two movements, bathed in a continuous flow of shadowy melodies. Between darkness and light, brilliance and melancholy, it reflects a period of emerging depression in its composer, likely at the origin of its incompletion. Dvořák’s Cello Concerto No. 2, written in 1895 during his stay in the United States, unfolds a vast fresco in which nostalgia, homesickness, and the soloist’s inner song permeate the entire orchestra. Two works marked by incompleteness, where music becomes confession.

Schubert, The Unfinished (Additional performance)

Sat, 20 Mar 2027 17:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €39

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

The Newcomers

Tue, 23 Mar 2027 10:30:00 GMT

Tickets: €0

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Each year, the orchestra continues a fine tradition: welcoming its new musicians with a concert dedicated to them. On this occasion, they are invited to share the stage with their colleagues in a chamber music concert, placed under the sign of encounter and the joy of making music together. This special moment is an opportunity to get to know one another, both among themselves and with the audience. The programme, specially devised for this concert, highlights the richness of personalities and talents of the new generation, and promises delightful musical discoveries.

OPRL+ Symphonic cinema: Loss, The Planets

Fri, 26 Mar 2027 18:00:00 GMT

Tickets: €12 – €34

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

After The Firebird, Mahler: The Echo of Being and Daphnis and Chloé, director Lucas van Woerkum turns to Holst’s The Planets, a grand galactic epic reflecting the composer’s fascination with space and astrology, with his new project: Loss. For this new film, whose tempi are perfectly synchronised with the playing of the OPRL musicians, the filmmaker has imagined a story that reopens the great questions of humanity. Performed by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, Loss immerses us in the inner journey of a soul bidding farewell to earthly life and being accompanied in its transition to the afterlife. The narrative explores loss both from the perspective of those who remain and of the one who departs. The mystery of life after death is rendered in the sumptuous, meticulously crafted aesthetic typical of the Dutch artist.