Now that AB is opening its doors once more, Stubru presenter Rik De Bruycker takes another look behind the scenes of the concert hall for the Guestlist podcast. The first episode of this second season looks at opera, contemporary dance and theatre.
When AB was forced to close its doors in March 2020, it decided to get behind a number of less ‘obvious’ performances as co-producer. For example, on 13/12 it will host ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’, an interdisciplinary opera featuring soprano Astrid Stockman and double bassist Pieter-Jan Van Assche (Innerwoud). They talk to Rik about how fantastic it is to work across genres.
You don’t have to look far into the history of AB to find traces of opera, contemporary dance and theatre. For example, the celebrated choreographer, dancer and director Wim Vandekeybus made his debut on the venue’s stage in 1987 with his ‘What the Body Does Not Remember’. In this episode, he talks about his collaborations with the likes of David Byrne and David Eugene Edwards. He also reveals which global star he’s trying to snare for his latest show.
In the ‘Durf te vragen’ (‘Dare to ask’) section, Rik finds out what Lara Chedraoui (Intergalactic Lovers), Pieter-Jan Symons (Goe Vur In Den Otto), Sofie Engelen (Willy) and Jasper Van Biesen (Songfestival Podcast) really think about Maneskin, the Italian rock band that recently won the Eurovision Song Contest. Are they the saviours of rock’n’roll or a fleeting TikTok hype? Furthermore, he dispatches Tessa Dixson to the Briqueville concert for the ‘Mish Mash’ section, and we discover which band AB director Tom Bonte is currently playing to death.
