New shoulder closure of two cultural players in Remerschen

« We want to show how wonderful the cross connections between music and other cultural divisions or topics can be. Not only, as you could assume at first glance, between music and architecture, » says saxophonist Olivier Sliepen.

The musician is, as a co -responsible, behind the concept, which will be held in the seat of the Valentiny Foundation in Remerschen from April 27th. Two cultural players come together for this « residence » under the title « Musique Plus »: The Valentiny Foundation provides the room and the right setting for the initiative of the United Instruments of Lucilin on five weekends.

Not without reason: when it comes to specialists in contemporary music, hardly a path leads past this ensemble in the Grand Duchy. The common interest in the « new » and contemporary work is the basis. The exhibitions that the foundation shows, and of course the foundation building of the architect and foundation initiator François Valentiny itself are an expression of this interest.

And the specialized orchestra, called Lucilin for short, has received significantly upwind in recent years. It not only relies on festivals, in concerts such as the unusual « Lucilin in the City » series in public space or with international music theater productions such as the cooperation with the artistically broad Frenchman François Sarhan accents.

With the composer, director and filmmaker, the ensemble « Les Murs Meurent Aussi » set up as a production for the Strasbourg Festival Musica 2024 and shows it for the first time on April 26 in the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg City.

The artistic and qualitative influence of the ensemble itself is also high in the project in Remerschen. The Lucilin team would have had a carte blanche, said Sliepen.

Freedom in program design

And the ensemble can let off steam with a wide variety of pieces, approaches and perspectives. « This is something special. For example, we can play pieces and try concert formats for which there is space in such a program and which we always wanted to do once, » says the saxophonist.

« Musique Plus … » the organizers baptized the series. Depending on the appointment, the focus is then on the « Plus » such as « Littérature » or « Architecture ». The five weekends will be equipped with premieres until the final on July 13 (including a new project by the Duos Camille Kerger and Nico Helminger) and a wide variety of cooperations and guest musicians. The common goal of ensemble and foundation: to reach a wide audience with an offer adapted to very different interests and tendencies. And consciously as an initiative on the Moselle.

Unusual concepts and strong cultural workers

What does that look like? A few examples: Paul Lesch, the former director of the Center National de L’Audiovisuel, has compiled extracts from Luxembourg archive films for the opening weekend as a film historian (April 27, 3 p.m.). With the musicians from Lucilin, a multimedia connection between the recordings of architecture, design, rooms and landscapes is to be created.

One of the special guest musicians in the project is Naomi Sato (June 29, 3 p.m.) She will play the shō; A very rare Japanese mouth organ that impresses with its extraordinary sound and needs special technology alone. Together with the accordion player Anthony Millet, Sato will immerse themselves in compositions that are based on the philosophies of Asia and the Middle East.

A special request came true when planning for Sliepen: « I didn’t get the piece » Finnegans Wake « by John Cage out of my head. It is based on the last novel by James Joyce. And guest Mannes, my former German teacher, is one of the specialists around the historical Luxembourg stay of the writer. The idea for a mixture of this elements was born. »

There is no separately requested funds for this cooperation. « We finance this thanks to the support from the foundation and that from the grants we get from the Ministry of Culture, » says Guy Frisch, « Directur Stratégieque » by Lucilin.

The ensemble has not yet had its own hall in which such large concept series can be implemented. « Of course we regularly work with the theater in the capital or the Philharmonie. But here we wanted a place as a more permanent anchor point. And in conversations with François Valentiny, the idea of ​​organizing the series in Remerschen, » said Frisch.

If a success occurs, Frisch could also imagine in -depth collaboration in the long run. « We are concerned with waking up curiosity, reaching a new audience. And for a kind of counterpart to the Rainy Day’s Festival of the Philharmonic, I still see space in the country, » said Lucilin’s strategy maker.

More about the project and other initiatives of the Lucilin ensemble can be found at: www.lucilin.lu.