Which Famous Person Takes Your Fancy? Get a Plaster Cast Made in Brussels!

Tucked away in the corner of a courtyard in the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels is a workshop where a handful of volunteers are chiselling, smoothing and perfecting all sorts of plaster casts. Whether you want a bust of Beethoven, the head of Voltaire or your very own copy of Michelangelo’s David, you can put in an order.

The plaster-casting workshop, which belongs to the Royal Museums of Art and History, was set up during the 19th century and holds around 4,000 moulds of sculptures dating from prehistoric times to the 18th century. They were originally made during a time when it wasn’t as easy and affordable to travel as it is today, and so craftsmen went to see the famous artworks of other countries, made moulds based on the originals and then produced plaster casts that could be viewed by a wider public in Brussels.

The moulds are now piled on top of each other on shelves from floor to ceiling row after row. Some of the moulds are broken, as are many of the original plaster casts. One of the volunteers explained to me that the damage happened in the 1930s when the moulds and casts were moved by prisoners from the main exhibition space to their current location.

Admittedly the hours aren’t too convenient for a visit (9.30am-noon and 1.30pm to 4pm Tuesday-Friday), but if you’re in the area and have a spare half-hour or so, it’s definitely worth popping in. The entrance is filled with replica statues and busts, which lead through to the storage rooms and the actual workshop. There’s also a small room with catalogues of their moulds in case you’re tempted to place an order.

Bruocsella Orchestra Takes on Symphonic Works with a Twist

Liszt’s “symphonic poem” Les Préludes and Debussy’s “symphonic sketches” La Mer will be the two orchestral highlights of the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra’s summer concert in Brussels this weekend (June 21).

If the prospect of an orchestra alone isn’t enough of a draw, then the two solo works on the programme should be. Alain Baudhuin is playing Weber’s clarinet concerto no. 1 and cellist Benjamin Glorieux is performing Respighi's Adagio con variazioni – they both studied at the music conservatory in Brussels and really are worth coming to hear.

You can read more about the concert in this article in Flanders Today and on the orchestra’s web site. Maybe see you on Sunday!

(Photo credit: Alexandre Istratov)

Judging the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition

It goes without saying that the finalists in the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition had their work cut out, having to perform a concert comprising a sonata, a newly composed, unpublished work that they had just one week to study and then a concerto. And all that after the various, rigorous requirements of the semi-final, the first round and the qualifying rounds. 

But what about the jury’s task? I’m not sure that was much easier to be honest. For the finals, they listened to and judged 12 performances spread out over six consecutive evenings. How on earth the jury manages to first select the finalists and then rank them is beyond me, especially when so much about music and its interpretation is subjective. One finalist produces a seductive sonata, the next a show-stopping concerto and the only work that is truly comparable is the unpublished work (this year Agens by Cho Eun-Hwa).

Yet they did choose a winner: Ray Chen, the Taiwanese-born Australian who at 20 was this year’s youngest finalist and certainly the finalist with the cheekiest smile! That smile seemed to reflect how at ease he was, not only with his own solo part, but also with the orchestra accompanying him and performing in front of a packed Bozar hall.

Chen’s was unfortunately not one of the finals I was able to watch live, but I did listen to it via the competition’s video on demand service, where all the finals and semi-finals are available until September 15. The video may not replicate the atmosphere in the hall that evening, but it is wonderful to be able to hear and watch him. It’s a lesson in how to play in a relaxed manner, as he even manages to flash a smile the conductor’s way in the middle of his cadenza in the Tchaikovsky concerto!

In fact he seemed to enjoy the entire performance, which the audience greeted with a standing ovation. And his reward was 1st prize, 20,000 euros, numerous concerts, a CD recording and the loan of a Stradivarius violin for three years, in short what may turn out to be the key to launching a solo career. Second prize went to Belgium’s Lorenzo Gatto (whose final I was lucky enough to see live) and third place to Moldavia’s Ilian Garnet.