• Lukas De Clerck — The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas
(live, artist-in-residence, premiere)

Musician and sound artist Lukas De Clerck is researching a forgotten instrument, the 'aulos'. This ancient Greco-Roman wind instrument with double reeds died out just over a millennium ago. After years of research into making aulos reeds and playing replicas, De Clerck is ready for a new chapter. With all the knowledge he has crafted, he is creating a new, contemporary version of the instrument: 'The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas'. With this two-voiced instrument, he explores microtonality and psycho-acoustic phenomena, creating an alienating effect on the listener's body and senses. Thus, he relates the ancient aulos to contemporary practices such as sound art, improvisation and electroacoustic music, while folklore is never far away.

Credits
The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas is a co-production of STUK, Sonic Arts & De Bijloke. With the support of Flanders, state of the arts

• Kara-Lis Coverdale & Leuvens Alumnikoor — SOL / solo electronics
(live, artist-in-residence, premiere)

Kara-Lis Coverdale is a composer and musician from Canada. Coverdale’s music is a temporal anomaly, blending the hyper futuristic with sacred histories, informed by her background as a church organist from age 12. Coverdale’s works are multimedial, exploring digital, electronic and acoustic languages with fluidity and ease, often accessing several realities at once. Kara-Lis's compelling compositions are highly dynamic and exhibit a spectral sensitivity, ranging from the intimate and hushed to abrasive and overwhelming. In addition to their solo work, Kara-Lis is a prolific collaborator, having recently worked with Contemporaneous Ensemble, The Amsterdam Cello Octet, Ludens Choir, Actress, Caterina Barbieri, and Lyra Pramuk, while in demand as a concert performer on tour with Big Thief, Floating Points, and Caribou.

Together with the Leuven Alumni Choir, Coverdale presents the second ever performance (and first performance in Belgium) of SOL (2023), a motet for choir in three parts originally commissioned by the Ludens Chamber Choir (NE) with support from the Ontario Arts Council. SOL explores 17thc Estonian folk poetics, new translations of Kepler’s harmonics, and transcendental arrangements of the Taoist Secret of the Golden Flower to weave earthly and heavenly existences. Following SOL, Coverdale will perform a series of Supernatural Aftermaths for electronics.