Colors of Spain solo program
Emma spreads out her wings with her debut program Colors of Spain.
Countless guitar composers share a common love - Spain. An affection in which the country in all its musical colours appears in the imagination. Even for Scarlatti's sonatas, Spain was a source of inspiration. Its colours range from Baroque to Romanticism, from Spanish folklore to 20th century pearls and from the Romantic to the classical guitar.
She brings works from the Antwerp Emmanuel Adriaenssen, Domenico Scarlatti, Paco de Lucia, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Joaquin Rodrigo, Isaac Albéniz, the brothers Eduardo en Regino Sainz de la Maza etc performed on different period instruments (lute, Lacôte guitar ca. 1820, classical guitar)
4-7-8 solo program
Emma Wills' second program 4-7-8 is an emotional journey featuring music by composers who often have more than one identity and lay claim to various artistic traditions, genres, or audiences. The repertoire ranges from John Dowland to Johann Sebastian Bach, Benjamin Britten, Joni Mitchell, Marc Ribot, Francis Poulenc and Angelo Gilardino. Stretching almost 5 centuries, these pieces are bound together by Wills' journey for selfsoothing and boundaries through the sounds of the electric and classical guitar. A whole host of other feelings are not to be avoided, fixed or solved, but experiences to be deeply felt. This music reflects the intimate nature of meditation.
Rebirth - the intimate world of the Romantic guitar
solo program + in duo with cello by Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde
Ganymed - Duo Marotel
Douce Joie - Duo Como
Nova - Duo Como
During my journey through the Romantic repertoire, I discovered an enormous amount of original repertoire and historical instruments that are covered in dust. Not all of this repertoire or instruments are from a high quality, but there are really deeply beautiful nourished pieces that bring these instruments in all their beauty and charm to the world. In addition, I encountered very few female composers, Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi and Catherina Sidney Pratten composed for the Romantic guitar, which is a very small world.
I felt the need to bring lost & found repertoire to these instruments and to also arrange music from other composers. There are many composers that might have written for the guitar if they knew about the beauty and possibilities of this instrument. Music from Dionisio Aguado y Garciá, Giulio Regondi, Fernando Sor, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Franz Schubert, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Brahms will be brought (back) to life on the historical Romantic guitar.
Wills brings a revival of forgotten Romantic (guitar) repertoire on a historic guitar from around 1820 by renowned luthier Rene Lacôte. In this program she also includes the Romantic cello played by Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde
Emma and Thomas Boodts met at the Museum Vleeshuis I Sound of the City in Antwerp where they are both house musicians. It was there where they decided to combine original historical instruments from the museum's collection to form Duo Marotel. This unique combination consists of the early Romantic guitar (Marotel, ca. 1820) and the early Romantich grand piano (Graf, ca. 1826).
The combination of these two instruments encouraged Emma and Thomas to arrange and search out suitable repertoire for the pair. It is through this process that Duo Marotel brings new life into unique and forgotten gems of music. Ganymed is a musical program symbolically charged with ''Sehnsucht''; longing for another world, nature, and unrequited love. In this program Emma Wills and Thomas Boodts perform works by F. Schubert, F. Carulli, F. Chopin, F. Sor and J.K Mertz.
For more information about Thomas: www.thomasboodtspiano.com
Emma and Sebastian, their musical taste goes far beyond traditional genres. They love light, elegant classical music from past and present, but also jazz, outspoken rhythms and southern influences. Duo Como plays, and also arranges, well-known and lesser known works by A. Piazzolla, J.S. Bach, R. Galliano, B. Lagrene, R. Balkanski, T. Gubitsch, etc.
Their first program is called Douce Joie, a colourful program full of the sweet joy of warm, blissful summer evenings and love for music. In this program Emma & Sebastian take you through rhythmic, joyful, playful, and also sensitive atmospheres with a gentle summer breeze.
For more information about Sebastian Enriques you can visit his website: www.sebastianenriques.com
This time, Duo Como presents a classical program 'Nova'. Classical but not so classical. Emma and Sebastian are looking for their own language within the range of the classical repertoire. In addition to the sweet summer atmosphere of their first program 'Douce Joie', they now include their color palette on guitar and accordion with hits from composers such as Vivaldi, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Rodrigo, Bach, Glass, etc. Always vibrant, refreshing and surprising, she knows this. unique duo to immerse you in a new sound world.
Il Fiammango della Tiorba - Delta Ensemble
In 1612 Philippe Vermeulen travels from Brussels to Rome on behalf of Isabella of Spain and Albrecht of Austria, governors of the Southern Netherlands. The upheavals in the musical landscape at the beginning of the 17th century in Italy were arousing
after all, the curiosity of all Western European courts. In addition to the emergence of new forms of expression - such as opera, the recitative or the toccata - various fascinating instruments also saw the light of day. Philippe was instructed to master such a new instrument, the theorbo, and then to share his acquired knowledge on his return.
On the basis of pieces by his teacher and contemporaries - on theorbo, baroque guitar, lirone, viola da gamba, lute, chitarra battente and with singing - and anecdotes from the letters, we try to bring Philippe Vermeulen's journey and study time to life: music he must have heard, songs that have been heard, improvisation exercises that he could have played himself… a homage to our own “Il Fiammingo della Tiorba”.
Witte vlinders - Music theatre
ft. actor Lukas De Wolf
WITTE VLINDERS, based on the poems PLATERO AND I by Juan Ramón Jiménez, reconciles a selection of Spanish poems with classical music, southern folk music, Renaissance songs, improvisation and lute music. The music includes his own arrangements as well as original compositions performed with accordion, guitar, lute, clarinet and vocals.
Emma Wills created this musical theater and received the highest award for this performance where film, music and poetry merge into a beautiful story. Witte Vlinders was awarded the highest distinction and was able to start a first successful series of performances in the summer of 2021, including a passage at the MoMeNT Cultural Festival in Tongeren, which ended with a standing ovation.
The story tells the memories of the writer from the village of Moguer, about the encounters and wanderings with his best friend and donkey, Platero. They poetically describe the carefree, simplicity and transience of the untouched nature and life in Andalusia. In 'Witte vlinders' a selection of these Spanish poems is reconciled with classical music, folk music, improvisation both own arrangements and original compositions. The carelessness, simplicity and transience of life in the unspoilt nature of Andalusia come to life. Actor Lukas De Wolf (Loslopend Wild, Mixed Kebab, De Dag,…) takes on the role of the narrator and collides and twists his way with the music from soft and sweet to furious and swirling, ending with purification.
Platero and I was fully released in 1917 and immediately had great success in Spain and Latin America. Thanks to this success, Juan Ramón Jiménez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1956. Emma made a selection from these fragmentary poems and transformed them into a beautiful storyline.
'Platero and I' was fully released in 1917 and immediately enjoyed great successs in Spain and Latin America. Thanks to that success, Juan Ramòn Jiménez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956.
Cast: Emma Wills, Sebastian Enriques, An-Sofie Moons, An Bosmans, Lukas De Wolf.