ANIMA ETERNA BRUGGE

Six times a year, an international team of orchestral musicians gathers, united around a shared passion: getting in touch with the historical source of music. What did the musicians of that time hear? What instruments did they play? What scores did they play from? In short, how did they do it? And perhaps more importantly, what did the composers and musicians in the past think about it? What were their expectations of the notes on the page? For Anima Eterna, asking – and continuing to ask – these questions is what it’s all about.

Anima Eterna brings music written between 1750 and 1945 into the present day, with its historical source as the point of departure – and has done so for over thirty years now. The results are often surprising, sometimes astonishing. Always new. Moreover, since water never stops flowing, a ‘definitive version’ of the past cannot exist. Founder Jos van Immerseel has expanded our musical imaginations many times over his long career. Radical and ground-breaking, full of verve and often with a dash of humour. Like the expressive colours of the pianoforte in Mozart’s piano concerti.

The crystal-clear winds in Schubert’s symphonies. The bone-dry tympani in the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. The ophicleide cutting through the texture in Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique. Or the taut, restrained tempo in Ravel’s Boléro.
Since 2021, the musicians of Anima Eterna have continued their artistic quest, now directed by different artistic voices. Pablo Heras-Casado, Bart Van Reyn and Midori Seiler, among others, are each setting their own course in dialogue with the orchestra, from Mozart to Clara Schumann, from Bruckner to Wagner and Bartók. As different as these strong musical personalities are, they all share and respect one common goal: to enrich our collective memory more and more, together with the musicians of Anima Eterna. With new sounds, new stories, new discoveries.

With these new voices, Anima Eterna’s inspiring and ardent founder Jos van Immerseel aims to ensure an enduring future for his brainchild. He therefore continues to work with and conduct the orchestra, and is ensuring that his artistic legacy is passed on by opening the orchestra's archives. Two major Romantic programmes are already planned for 2025.