CURATION
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from this page:
by Augmented Matrix
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
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Name:
Julien Libeer
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City/Place:
Brussels
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Country:
Belgium
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Hometown:
Wevelgem, Belgium
Life & Work
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Bio:
‘Music can be a force of change!’
Around age four, Julien Libeer (Belgium, 1987) discovered Leonard Bernstein conducting West Side Story. Is it possible to see Bernstein at work and not believe that making music is the greatest thing on earth?
His next big influence was the pianist Dinu Lipatti; also someone radiating musical truth. Lipatti proved formative for the direction in which Julien wanted to work, as he consciously avoided engaging in piano competitions.
For five unforgettable years, French-Polish pedagogue Jean Fassina was the mentor for Julien’s pianistic and musical foundation. An additional five years, Maria João Pires taught Julien by example, and by taking him on the road to perform with her. Ultimately, he learned that your most important asset, on stage and in life, is your freedom.
Julien Libeer was presented with the Juventus Award 2008 for being the most promising young European soloist, and was named Young Musician of the Year by the Belgian Music Press Association in 2010. His work has been subject of the documentaries Technique doesn’t exist (2013) and Jeunes Solistes, Grands Destins (2018).
Julien’s recordings have been well-received by the international press, receiving awards such as the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2016, Klara Award 2016 and Echo Preis 2017.
Collaborations
As a soloist, Julien has had the pleasure of collaborating with orchestras such as Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Sinfonia Varsovia and New Japan Philharmonic; with conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Michel Tabachnik, Augustin Dumay, Hervé Niquet, Serge Pehlevanian, Joshua Weilerstein, Enrique Mazzola and Christopher Warren-Green.
Distinguished chamber music partners in recent times are Augustin Dumay, Camille Thomas, Frank Braley and Maria João Pires. Julien Libeer is currently performing and recording Beethoven’s complete sonatas for violin and piano with Lorenzo Gatto.
Julien Libeer is Artist in Residence at Flagey Brussels and enjoys regular invites from Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Théâtre de la Ville and Salle Cortot (Paris), Barbican Hall (London), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Concertgebouw Bruges and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
His travels have taken him to Spain (Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Palau de la Musica Barcelona), Japan (Sumida Tryphony Hall Tokyo), Lebanon (Beirut Chants festival) and the USA (Miami International Piano Festival).
Libeer’s teachers and mentors have included Daniel Blumenthal (Royal Conservatory of Brussels), Jean Fassina (Paris), Maria João Pires, Jura Margulis, Nelson Delle-Vigne, members of the Artemis Quartet, Dmitry Bashkirov, Alfred Brendel, Abdel Rahman El Bacha and Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet).
The Impact of Music
Julien is driven to initiate or collaborate in projects which are rooted in the idea that music, far beyond its esthetic value, can be a force of change for anyone willing to listen.
Amongst these projects was Julien hosting a Belgian TV series, that made a case for musical storytelling. Enthusiasm about music is contagious and informative. With this in mind, the Bruges Concertgebouw and Julien started a series called Salon Libeer, in which he joins a fellow musician and a speaker (e.g. philosopher, historian, author). By exploring a particular theme, the discussion strives to enhance the audience’s musical experience. Since 2019, he initiated the ‘Glass Bead Game Talks’ on his own YouTube channel, a series of discussions exploring the recent transformations of the classical music world and what to think of them.
With the project Singing Molenbeek, high level choir rehearsals are organised in the primary schools of a Brussels suburb famous for all kinds of wrong reasons. As artistic director and pianist, it is Julien’s hope that introducing these children to music, with all its demands and rewards, will help them personally and socially.
Clips (more may be added)
Few people know that the Bay of All Saints was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. And few people know the transcendence these people, and their descendents, wrought. That's where this Matrix begins...
Wolfram MathWorld
The idea is simple, powerful, and egalitarian: To propagate for them, the Matrix must propagate for all. Most in the world are within six degrees of us. The concept of a "small world" network (see Wolfram above) applies here, placing artists from the Recôncavo and the sertão, from Salvador... from Brooklyn, Berlin and Mombassa... musicians, writers, filmmakers... clicks (recommendations) away from their peers all over the planet.
This Integrated Global Creative Economy (we invented the concept) uncoils from Brazil's sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix... expanding like the canopy of a rainforest tree rooted in Bahia, branches spreading to embrace the entire world...
Recent Visitors Map
Great culture is great power.
And in a small world great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC (I've lived here in Brazil for 32 years now) I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Salvador is our base. If you plan to visit Bahia, there are some things you should probably know and you should first visit:
www.salvadorbahiabrazil.com
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