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OXALYS ENSEMBLE
Oxalys was founded in 1993 by a group of ambitious young students from the Brussels Conservatory of Music. Since then the ensemble has developed into one of the most esteemed professional chamber music groups in Flanders. It performs on some of the world’s finest platforms and plays at the most prestigious festivals and concert halls: Festival van Vlaanderen, Bozar, deSingel, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the German festivals of Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau and Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Beethoven Haus Bonn, Konzerthaus Berlin, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, Palau de Música in Barcelona and Valencia, the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress in Washington, Philharmonie St-Petersburg, in China and Japan. Each of these former students has now also built up an international career of their own. Yet they still like to travel back to their home base in Brussels from their various European capitals to continue work on their shared project, Oxalys.
The ensemble’s primary aim is to tell the European cultural story since the Enlightenment, at the highest possible standard and with the greatest directness. They also wish to give a musical interpretation of the connections and contrasts across borders and eras that are found in this story. But in addition to this philosophical aspect, the beating heart of Oxalys remains the pure pleasure of performing and their absolute love of music: all music. As for the vocal chamber music of this period, the partners are brilliant singers like Laure Delcampe, Christianne Stotijn, Dietrich Henschel, Nikolay Borchev and Christoph Pregardien.
The discography of Oxalys contains real treasures of chamber music: Richard Strauss (prepared in collaboration with the Alban Berg Quartet), Reger (Prix Choc 2009), Flute Quartets of Mozart and Ries, 20th Century Russian music, Mahlers Song of the Earth and Fourth Symphonie in the transcriptions by the Schönberg Verein für Privatmusikaufführungen. The last one was awarded by the “International Prize Toblacher Komponierhäuschen”.
The ensemble receives operational subsidies from the Flemish Community and the Brussels Capital Region’s Flemish Community Commission. Oxalys’ home base is the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, where it is in residence. |
