DEVELOPMENT OF AND ADVICE ON STAGE ACT
FOR CHOIRS, ORCHESTRAS AND ENSEMBLES
Nowadays, it is best to think outside the box when organising a concert. Choirs, orchestras or ensembles often go off the beaten track, but still respect tradition. I put my many years of stage experience at the disposal of choirs, orchestras, ensembles and solo artists who want to develop a high-quality stage act. Whether it’s about upgrading or rethinking certain aspects of a show or the development of an entirely new production, I’ll develop a tailor-made project.
If necessary, I call in the help of permanent staff members and/or fellow musicians. These are all people with whom I’ve often had successful collaborations and who excel at their profession: video, sound, lighting, staging, choreography, direction and set design. I coordinate the collaboration and I bring everything to a happy conclusion.
‘RANDSCHILDERINGEN’
A multimedia performance with singing, a string orchestra, dancing, an organ, a piano, percussion and video. Grimbergen Abbey - May 2017.
Producer Stijn Kolacny
Arrangements and score Yannick De Pauw
Direction & staging and choreography Luc Morren
Staging assistant Lokke Dieltiens
Video Dax Geyskens
Adult choir members The choirs Andante & Omnia Cantica conducted by Jeffrey Dirix, single singers (Noordrand region)
Choir preparation Jeffrey Dirix
Children’s choirs Cantamico conducted by Karen Cauwenbergh & Muldermuze conducted by Esther Van Hellemont
Strings Academie Grimbergen conducted by Christel De Wolf
Solo soprano Laurie Janssens
Organ Marnix De Cat
Piano Bart Van Caenegem
Dancers Students of Academie Grimbergen directed by Lot Jansen and Kara Gemoets & Dansgroep Neoluna directed by Sylvie Huyghe
Sound design and FOH engineering Dries D’Hondt
Monitor mixing Lars Morren
Monitor mixing during rehearsals Michel Daems
Project coordination Jo Sollie
Review ‘Stadsschilderingen’
by Viviane Redant in
‘Klassiek Centraal’ Grimbergen Abbey: Thursday 26 and Friday 27 June 2014
‘Under the inspiring direction of Stijn Kolacny, you listen to a choir of a about one hundred singers who sing meanderingly, breathe sounds, show colour, swell organically and then whisper again. Kolacny knows how to play on the grandeur of the choir refreshingly, sophisticatedly and with a lot of nuance. Extra difficulty: the choirs are not anchored in place like a monolith, but are spread over the left and right aisles of the church and between the audience. Like a sorcerer, Stijn Kolacny controls the entire spectacle. In front of him, to his left, to his right, or behind him, everywhere there are singers and musicians. He spins on his axis, and so does the music. Music which gives you, partly due to the wonderful acoustics, shivers and a chill that runs through your entire body. Not only the beautiful and enchanting sound of the violin is present, but ingenuity is never far away either. The rolling pebbles in boxes symbolise the connectedness with the earth. Hundreds of palms rub against each other and suddenly you hear the rustling of the rain. Stijn Kolacny also orchestrates the coming and passing rumbling of thunder, which is imitated through directing the singers to stamp their feet from the left of the church to the right and vice versa, while lightning rips the sky apart on the big screen.’ ‘A great deal of attention has been paid, with care and precision, to the form and content of this multimedia project. The audience was baffled by the beauty and talent of ‘Stadsschilderingen’. Everywhere there were enthusiastic people and pleased sounds.’