Delta is a musical collective specializing in early music, founded by lutenist Adriaan Lauwers during his studies with Rolf Lislevand at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. Focusing on Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, the ensemble performs in a flexible line-up, adapting its instrumentation to the music at hand. Drawing inspiration from historical scores and treatises, Delta seeks to embody the multifaceted musician of the period: not only a performer, but also a singer, composer, and improviser. Driven by an insatiable curiosity for historical research and a love of discovering new sounds, the ensemble aims to engage audiences through compelling and accessible storytelling on stage, creating meaningful connections between the past and the present. Delta has performed at venues and festivals including MA Festival Bruges, FestiVita, MIM Brussels, De Appelvink, the Vleeshuis in Antwerp, and has appeared live on Klara Radio.
Señor Sinjoor
Delta collectief
In 1714, the Spanish Baroque guitarist Santiago de Murcia published a new book. Rather than a collection of compositions, it was a practical guide teaching readers how to accompany singers and instrumentalists on the guitar. Surprisingly, it was not printed on the Iberian Peninsula, but here in the Low Countries, in Antwerp, then part of the Spanish (or Southern) Netherlands. Whether Santiago de Murcia himself ever travelled to Antwerp remains uncertain. There are, however, compelling reasons to think he may have.
In his later works, we find pieces by the Brussels guitarist François Le Cocq that had not yet been published at the time, suggesting the two musicians may have met in person. Perhaps they exchanged manuscripts over a mug of beer—or even performed together. Through music by Murcia, Le Cocq, and their contemporaries, Delta brings this imagined journey and encounter to life: from the songs and dances that may have accompanied the travellers along the road to the improvisations they might have shared.
- Adriaan Lauwers
Il Fiammingo della Tiorba
Delta collectief
In 1612, Philippe Vermeulen set out from Brussels for Rome on the orders of Isabella of Spain and Albert of Austria, Governors of the Southern Netherlands. The profound changes taking place in the Italian musical world at the beginning of the seventeenth century had captured the imagination of courts across Western Europe. Alongside new forms of musical expression—such as opera, recitative, and the toccata—a number of remarkable new instruments also emerged.
Vermeulen was sent to master one of these instruments: the theorbo. Upon his return, he was expected to share the knowledge he had acquired abroad. His teacher was none other than Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, celebrated in his own time as Il Tedesco della Tiorba ("The German of the Theorbo"), the instrument's foremost virtuoso. A surviving correspondence between the consulate in Rome and the court at Mariemont offers a vivid glimpse into Vermeulen's two-year stay. The letters recount the consulate's growing concern as he spent entire days locked away practising, as well as the long-awaited financial support arriving from the Low Countries just as he finally began to make real progress.
Through works by Kapsperger and his contemporaries — performed on theorbo, Baroque guitar, viola da gamba, vihuela, chitarra battente, and with voice — interwoven with anecdotes drawn from these letters, Delta brings Philippe Vermeulen's journey and years of study to life. The programme evokes the music he must have heard, the songs that may have resonated through the streets of Rome, and the improvisations he himself might have practised: a tribute to our own Il Fiammingo della Tiorba ("The Fleming of the Theorbo").
- Adriaan Lauwers
