My contribution consists of two different components that are inextricably linked. On the one hand, there is the visual component for the live performance ‘TTT plays FFF/FFF by TTT’, performed by Het Collectief. This performance consists of three compositions: Feldman’s ‘Why Patterns?’ and two new pieces composed by David Fennessy and Jean-Luc Fafchamps respectively. On the other hand, there is the ‘Why Patterns? ‘ installation consisting of 4 modules of 3 compact screens each (there are three musicians/instruments), which can be seen as a prelude or visual research to the actual performance.

What if each instrument represents a star and you assume that you can apply seismological, hydrodynamic, spectral,… algorithms to it, what does that say about the patterns in the composition? Possible comparative analyses of the data from these different instruments will hopefully result in beautiful visual textures and patterns that could potentially unlock this data for an audience in a poetic way.

the performance ‘TTT plays FFF/FFF by TTT’ consists of the following compositions:
Why Patterns? (1978) Morton FELDMAN (1926-1987)
Nieuw werk (2025) David FENNESSY (°1976)
For Morton Feldman (2025) Jean-Luc FAFCHAMPS (°1960)

Performed by Het Collectief
Toon Fret, flute
Thomas Dieltjens, piano
Tom De Cock, percussion
Klaas Verpoest, video performance

‘TTT plays FFF/FFF by TTT’ is a coproduction of Kortrijk Festival (B) and New Music Festival Dublin (IRL)
1 April 2025, De Link – Tilburg (NL)
5 or 6 April 2025, New Music Festival Dublin (IRL)
20 May 2025, Tivoli Vredenburg – Utrecht (NL)

Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? How do we detect exoplanets? How do we hope to find life on exoplanets light-years away? What is “TRAPPIST-1”? What do exoplanets tell us about the famous “Fermi’s Paradox”?

The Copernican Revolution taught us that our Earth, far from being the center of the Universe, is only one among the many planets orbiting the Sun, which is itself similar in every respect to the stars lining the celestial vault. Later, astronomy revealed that there are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy, and that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in our expanding Universe. Faced with such immensity, it is very tempting to hypothesize the existence of other inhabited planets out there, and even of other advanced civilizations. Long confined to speculations, the existence of exoplanets, i.e. planets in orbit around other stars than the Sun, became a proven fact at the end of last century. Since then, more than 4000 exoplanets have been detected at an ever-accelerating pace. A few dozens of these are “potentially habitable”, i.e. they could be rocky worlds harboring oceans of water on their surface, like our Earth. Imagining complex forms of life on some of these planets is but a small step away, one that is happily crossed by science-fiction. But our imagination will eventually be replaced by real scientific measurements, as upcoming giant telescopes will soon be able to probe the atmospheric compositions of some of these extrasolar worlds, and, who knows, to reveal chemical traces of life out there. If so, our view of the Cosmos will change forever…

This concert was performed and recorded on October 24, 2021, Flagey Brussels

Event organized by Science & Cocktails in collaboration with the International Solvay Institutes.

Performers:
Composer: Benjamin Glorieux
Cellists: Benjamin Glorieux, Bryggen String Orchestra
Vincent Caers: electronics
Klaas Verpoest: live video

The End of Space and Time concert in Flagey was the closing event for the Strings2019 conference.
Together with Cellist Benjamin Glorieux I created a performance especially for the occasion. Inspired by ‘strings’ in all its varieties.

Cellist Benjamin Glorieux and visual artist Klaas Verpoest have created a performance especially for the occasion. Inspired by ‘strings’ in all its varieties, they enthusiastically agreed.

Insisting on finding as many strings as possible they promptly invited 2 pianists, Anthony Romaniuk and Rembrandt Frerichs-with-his-trio – that makes more or less 464 strings – and 5 fellow cellists, that’s 24 strings. Electronica-wizzard Jo Thielemans won’t bring any string, but he brings other stuff!

The output will be multifaceted like a diamond’s surface, even if the orgulous music of JS Bach will always be nearby… But it will all sound absolutely new, as if covered with stardust from those more or less 500 strings and thanks to the creativity of the players and the extraterrestrial acoustics of Studio 4!

13.08.2019: Studio 4 – Flagey, Brussels

Performers:
Cellists: Benjamin Glorieux, Liesemarie Beelaerts, Seraphine Stragier, Pieter Matthynssens, Pieter-Jan De Smet, Harmen Goossens
Anthony Romaniuk: piano
Jo Thielemans: electronics
The Rembrandt Frerichs trio: Piano, Double base, drums
Klaas Verpoest: live video

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a radical, an extremely important but also controversial innovator. He is also one of the most important musical minds of the past century. His electronic music inspired several generations of musicians, even outside the realm of so-called art music. He broke rules and traversed boundaries. His music was extremely complex, but in all the abstraction it is also sensual and engaging.

14.01.16: Cosmic Pulses – De Bijloke, Gent
15.06.18: Porto Franko Festival – Ivano-Frankvivsk (UKR)
23.11.18: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival – Huddersfield (UK)
07.12.18: John Doe Gallery – New York (US)

Performers:
Thomas R. Moore: trombone
Klaas Verpoest: video
Patrick Delges, Centre Henri Pousseur: electronics

In a production of:
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent | Centre Henri Pousseur

Signale zur Invasion | Karlheinz Stockhausen from Klaas Verpoest on Vimeo.