Bart Becks (SonicAngel) spoke at the Staten Generaal van de Klassieke Muziek (Monday 28 november 2011), in the context of ‘new initiatives to support young talent’.
This new initiative of SonicAngel and KlaraFestival fits in perfectly with the theme of the Staten Generaal van de Klassieke Muziek, which acts as the launch pad for young musicians and offers them career opportunities. Bart Becks will now take this opportunity to explain the new concept in detail.
More to the point, various parties will work together to find and finance new talent and allow them to record an album. In addition, top talents are selected to perform during the KlaraFestival 2012 as well as the RTBF's Musiq3 Festival.
Promising local talent can register through the website at http://klarafestival.sonicangel.com. The promoters are focusing on young musicians between the ages of 16 and 26. There are three registration categories: interpretation of existing work, own compositions and cross-genre works or classical-music inspired compositions. Registration concludes 31 January 2012.
Fans will then be able to vote online but there is also a 'social media' score calculated based on the circulation via email, twitter and facebook.
In a third step, a professional jury will invite 15 finalists to give a live performance. Their selection will depend predominantly on the social media score, the quality and the quality of the online profile. The prestigious jury is composed of: Dirk Brossé (conductor and classical composer), Hendrik Storme (Artistic Director Flanders Festival Brussels), Maurice Engelen (multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of SonicAngel), Martine Mergeay (classical music critic for La Libre Belgique), Gerrit Valckenaers (musician, composer, music programmer for Klara), Geert van der Speeten (culture and media editor De Standaard), Bernard Meillat (head of Musiq3, RTBF).
Subsequently, three winners will be selected and they will then be offered a recording contract via SonicAngel. The winners will also be given a spot on the KlaraFestival 2012 and Musiq'3 festival 2012 posters.
Bart Becks, co-founder of SonicAngel: “Classical music is often overlooked in innovative projects but through a major, nationally coordinated event, we want to offer young talent the opportunity to be discovered as well as to record an album and to perform. The new models that are successfully applied to the pop and rock genre can certainly be a positive catalyst for classical music and in particular for the younger generation who can use all the support they can get.”
Sophie Detremmerie, Business Director KlaraFestival: "Young talent in the world of classical music has difficulties to find the merits to produce a cd. SonicAngel.KlaraFestival guarantees a big communication campaign to convince fans to vote online. So, we can give some youngsters the chance, supported by their fans, to go to “the next level” which is so important for the development of their talent/career." |
| | | Presentation of the jury | - Maurice Engelen is known for being a creative jack-of-all-trades. Amongst other things, he is the frontman for Lords of Acid and Praga Khan. He founded Antler Subway which was successfully sold to EMI. In 2010, he founded Sonic Angel together with Bart Becks and caused a fresh wind to blow through the musical landscape.
- For a long time, Hendrik Storme headed Flanders Festival Bruges, which organises the Musica Antiqua festival, together with Tomas Bisschop. In 2005, he co-founded the successful baroque orchestra B'Rock. Since 2009, Hendrik Storme has been the artistic director at Flanders Festival Brussels, which organises the KlaraFestival and The European Galas, among other musical events.
- Dirk Brossé is a conductor and classical composer from Ghent. He is music director for the Tokyo International Music Festival and the Flanders International Film Festival, Ghent. He is also currently the artistic director for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.
- Martine Mergeay studied nursing, criminology and music. Inspired by her time and music studies in India, she organises concerts of Indian music with Ravi Shankar. She established Festival Midi-Minimes in 1984 and then became a music critic. At the moment, she is a classical music critic for La Libre Belgique, among other publications.
- Geert Van der Speeten completed a postgraduate degree in Germanic Philology. He started his career in journalism as a correspondent for a local newspaper in Ninove and subsequently switched to the culture section of the Gazet van Antwerpen. At present, Geert Van der Speeten is the culture & media editor at De Standaard.
- Gerrit Valckenaers usually works for theatre and contemporary choreographers as musician and composer. He has been responsible for the music in pieces by Pascale Platel, Braakland ZheBilding, Fabuleus and Action Malaise. He is also music programmer at Klara, previously for Mixtuur and now for the Late Night programme.
- Bernard Meillat is the head of the Walloon classical music station Musiq3. Before he held this position, he was programme director for the private station Radio Classique in France, his country of origin, which increased its listenership by no fewer than 400,000 listeners under his management.
| | | Aim and contest launch | |
With this project, KlaraFestival and SonicAngel want to stimulate talented musicians in their development and offer them a steppingstone to a successful career.
The KlaraFestival is the largest Belgian classical music festival as well as the only radio festival. You can find more info on www.klarafestival.be.
SonicAngel is an innovative music platform for young talented artists where it is the fans who make the difference. You will find more info on www.sonicangel.com.
| | | To subscribe | |
Candidates can register on the website http://klarafestival.sonicangel.com. They can create a “social buzz” by sharing their submitted videos with their fans on social networking sites like facebook, twitter, etc.
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