AMUZ

IYAP 2025: International Young Artist’s Presentation

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

International Young Artist’s Presentation
Laus Polyphoniae 2025
AMUZ, Antwerp. 23 August 2025

The annual International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP) is a coaching and presentation scheme promoted by AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp) and the Musica Impulscentrum. Its aim is to help promising young musicians “grow into tomorrow’s stars”. Six young early music ensembles are invited to three days of coaching by early music specialists before performing short programmes during public concerts on the first Saturday of the Laus Polyphoniae festival (reviewed here). Unlike many similar young artist events, it is not a competition but an informal opportunity for young musicians to develop their performing style. An invited Feedback Committee of concert promoters and others comment privately on these public performances. Scarily for me (and possibly them) my reviews are far from private, but I hope they will be equally helpful.

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Laus Polyphoniae 2024, Antwerp

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Laus Polyphoniae 2024
“VOX\VOCES, monophonic\polyphonic”
Antwerp, Flanders
23 August – 1 September 2024


Antwerp’s annual Laus Polyphoniae festival, as the name suggests, is devoted to music from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period when polyphony was paramount. This year’s festival had the banner of VOX\VOCES, monophonic\polyphonic reflecting an investigation of links between monophonic and polyphonic music during the period. As usual, it was organised by AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp) from its base centred around the baroque St. Augustine Church in the centre of Antwerp. An introductory essay to the festival and clickable details of all the events can be found here. The festival lasted for 11 days, but I was only able to review the first four days. which included the International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP) on the first Saturday, reviewed here.

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International Young Artist’s Presentation 2024

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

International Young Artist’s Presentation
Laus Polyphoniae 2024
AMUZ, Antwerp. 24 August 2024

The International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP) is an annual coaching and presentation scheme promoted by AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp) and the Musica Impulscentrum to help promising young musicians “grow into tomorrow’s stars”. Six young early music ensembles are invited to three days of coaching by international early music specialists before performing short programmes during public concerts on the first Saturday of the Laus Polyphoniae festival (reviewed here). Unlike most similar young artist events, it is not a competition but an informal opportunity for young musicians to develop their performing style. An invited Feedback Committee of concert promoters and others comment privately on their public performances. Scarily for me, and possibly them, these reviews are far from private, but I hope will be equally helpful.

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Laus Polyphoniae 2023, Antwerp

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Laus Polyphoniae 2023
Antwerp. Townscape – Soundscape
Antwerp
18 – 22 August 2023

As the name implies, Antwerp’s annual Laus Polyphoniae festival is devoted to the music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a time when polyphony was paramount. Under the title of Antwerp: Townscape – Soundscape this year’s festival asked the question: “What did Antwerp sound like in the 15th and 16th centuries”? Alongside the shouting in the streets and markets and the dockland sounds, what music sounded in the churches and city palaces during Antwerp’s heyday?

Antwerp experienced an unprecedented economic and cultural boom in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The city was an international metropolis. Goods from all over the world were traded by merchant families who amassed large fortunes. Music was played in many places in the bustling city, from grand churches to private homes. The best singing masters were recruited to compose music for the liturgy. Publishers printed music for those who made music at home. Antwerp was also a centre of printing. Printers such as Phalesius and Plantin were renowned for the high quality of their music publications and surviving prints mean that music can still be performed. Several concerts during the festival were dedicated to these Antwerp music prints. 

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Laus Polyphoniae: International Young Artists Presentation, Antwerp

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

International Young Artists Presentation
Laus Polyphoniae 2023
AMUZ Antwerp, 19 August 2023

The International Young Artists Presentation (IYAP) is an annual coaching programme run by the Musica Impulscentrum (Musica Impulse Centre) and AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp), during the Laus Polyphoniae festival (reviewed here). On the first Saturday of Laus Polyphoniae, after three days of coaching by Peter Van Heyghen and Raquel Andueza, six selected young vocal and instrumental early music ensembles present themselves to a public audience in the AMUZ concert hall, which includes potentially useful members of the wider music industry, including concert promoters – and reviewers. The focus of the coaching is on presentation, the story the ensembles want to tell, the structure of their programme and their interaction with the audience. The six ensembles chosen this year were Vestigium Ensemble, Contre le Temps, Liane Sadler & Elias Conrad, Duo Yamane, Rubens Rosa, and Apollo’s Cabinet.

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Laus Polyphoniae – Polyphony of life

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Laus Polyphoniae – Polyphony of life
Antwerp
19-23 August 2022

After a three-year Covid-induced hiatus when Laus Polyphoniae ran a much-reduced series of live and online events, the 2022 Festival restored the postponed 2020 edition, under the title Polyphony of life. As usual, the festival was run by AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp) in conjunction with the Alamire Foundation, the study centre for music in the Low Countries and part of KU (Katholieke Universiteit) Leuven. As the name implies, Laus Polyphoniae is devoted to the music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance when polyphony was paramount.

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International Young Artists Presentation (IYAP)

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

International Young Artists Presentation
Laus Polyphoniae 2022
AMUZ, Amtwerp. 20 August 2022

The International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP) is an annual coaching and presentation scheme promoted by Musica and AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp). It is intended for young ensembles playing historical instruments. They are invited to present innovative and original programmes and to experiment with aspects of presentation and performance. The selected groups are given three days of coaching (on this occasion, led this year by Raquel Andueza and Robert Hollingworth, which is followed by a day of public concerts at the start of the Laus Polyphoniae festival, reviewed here.

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Antwerp: Laus Polyphoniae 2019

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Laus Polyphoniae 2019
Mary of Burgundy & The Burgundian Court
Antwerp, Flanders. 16-20 August

The 26th annual Laus Polyphoniae explored the flourishing cultural scene in the time of Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482), one of the most powerful women in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages. She came to power in the Netherlands in 1477, aged 20, but found that her father, Charles the Bold, had left an empty state treasury, hostile neighbouring countries and domestic revolts. Thanks to her diplomatic skills, the young Duchess managed to calm the situation, notably in Flanders. She was the most sought-after bride in Europe with many suitors, eventually marrying Maximilian of Austria, thereby linking the House of Burgundy to that of the powerful Habsburgs. She died in 1482, at just 25 years old after a fall from her horse. The week-long Laus Polyphoniae festival featured secular and religious music relating to Mary of Burgundy and her time, performed by ensembles from Belgium and abroad, including Stile Antico, Ensemble Leones, Comet Musicke, Utopia and Huelgas Ensemble. I was able to attend for most of the first five days, including the International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP) events on the first weekend.  Continue reading →

Antwerp: Laus Polyphoniae 2018

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Laus Polyphoniae 2018
1618 / BEFORE
Antwerp, Belgium. 16-20 August.

This year’s Laus Polyphoniae festival (part of the Festival van Vlaanderen / Flanders Festival) celebrated two anniversaries. It is 25 years since the festival first started, and 400 years since the opening of the former St. Augustine’s Church (in 1618), now the home of AMUZ (Augustinus Muziekcentrum), the hosts of Laus Polyphoniae. The festival lasted from 16 – 26 August, and I was invited for the first four days, from the opening concert on Thursday 16 August to the lunchtime concert on Monday 20 August. Taking the date of 1618 as the hinge, the Laus Polyponiae festival ‘1618 / Before’, was the prelude to a further series of concerts under the title ‘1618 / Beyond’, the English names being original, not translations.

Focussing on music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the programme covered repertoire from the year 800 up to the early 17th century, when the early Baroque style began to emerge from the tradition of Renaissance polyphony. It featured musicians from Flanders and beyond, with a wide-ranging programme of concerts and events, the International Young Artist’s Presentation, and various associated events included a study day exploring the recently discovered Leuven Chansonnier and other educational activities. Unless otherwise noted, all the concerts took place in AMUZ.

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European Union Baroque Orchestra: Farewell

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ Leave a comment

European Union Baroque Orchestra
Maria Keohane, Lars Ulrik Martensen
London Festival of Baroque Music
St John’s, Smith Square. 19 May 2017

IMG_20170519_163842318.jpgOne of the key events of the London Festival of Baroque Music was final concert of the current incarnation of the European Union Baroque Orchestra, and orchestra I have been reviewing enthusiastically for many years. After extensive annual training auditions attracting around 100 applicants, aided by leading period performers, around 30 instrumentalists are selected each year to tour a series of concerts around Europe. But this concert was also, very sadly, the very last EUBO concert in its present state as a UK-managed organisation. Founded 32 years ago as a UK initiative (during the 1985 European Music Year), and managed ever since from its base near Oxford, the vote by a small percentage of the UK population to drag the UK out of the European Union means that it is no longer viable to run an EU venture from the UK. In its 32 years, EUBO has encouraged and nurtured around 1000 young musicians, giving some of the finest period instrumentalists around an early grounding in performance practice at the start of their careers. For the future, after a hiatus of a year to allow for the transfer, when there will be no auditions or orchestra , EUBO will restart from a new base, and with new management, based in the music centre AMUZ in Antwerp. Continue reading →