.......................... (fill in your title)
Each season a new story unfolds in, around and in front of the Concertgebouw. The Season Brochure is a brand-new book, waiting to be browsed through and devoured. This season we have very consciously chosen to focus on the procession of stories that pass by and through our doors. An international arts centre like ours, where so many stories are told, in so many languages – some of them wordless – is crying out for such a focus. For that story – an epic saga bursting with constituent stories – you just have to take a seat and look and listen attentively. But don't hesitate to also tell your own story. Because countless different pens are helping us to write our story, including yours!
The plot
Our story began not so long ago. ‘Once upon a time, we dreamt of a concert hall for Bruges.’ A few chapters later, it turns out – thank goodness! –that this story is by no means an uneventful rectilinear progression straight towards ‘and they lived happily ever after’. That original plot line, spawned new themes and side plots, constantly evolving, unstoppable. Narratives in notes, silences and movements, intrigues for discerning ears, or legends for beginning readers, our story – your story – is a colourful bouquet of narratives from which you pick your favourites. They are stories that happily stand alone, but their narrative power is naturally enhanced when they are matched with the stories of our partners, and they nestle equally appealingly within bigger collections of stories: those of Bruges, Flanders... and the world.
The narrator(s)
A story that is constantly growing and branching out requires a variety of narrative points of view. Perspectives can coexist and alternate, without us having to wonder which viewpoint is 'the right one'. Therein lies the beauty of our story: it has a polyphonic aspect that encourages listening, sharing and opening the mind to other perspectives. Artists are interpreters of and a conduit for (their) experiences, thoughts and feelings. Going backstage, the reader gets to see through the eyes of the countless Concertgebouw employees. And who knows what you will have to recount about the motley crew of characters that make their appearance here?
The characters
They are a cast of thousands: the characters on, behind and in front of the stage, along the Concertgebouw Circuit or in the Concertgebouw Café. They play a variety of roles: mother and composer, teacher and volunteer, son and choreographer, amateur musician and sponsor, grandfather and Friend… They give our story character, colour, flavour and pace! But of course no character is as rich and multifaceted as the one from which our every storyline commences: that Big Friendly Terracotta Giant who lives on 't Zand.
Space & time
With its timeless architecture and fabulous acoustics, it is no wonder that the Concertgebouw also features in other chronicles. Our house is more than just a physical location, a venue in present day Bruges; it is a magical place where oriental sounds meet western sounds, where business visitors arrive for conferences, where ancient rituals play out in halls with the most modern technology. Time holds no sway there: in a building not bound by its roof or walls, moments are stretched and centuries flash by.
Title
It is an impossible task to unite such a wealth of plotlines, perspectives and characters under a single title, so I therefore extend this heartfelt invitation: feel free to come up with your own title for our story, because it is also your story. Doubts are allowed. And so is adaptation. Let this story take you by the hand. Read it! Write it! Share it! Experience It!
— Katrien Van Eeckhoutte, General Manager