Mélodies de Verlaine

Mélodies de Verlaine

The remarkable life of Paul Verlaine, one of the most widely read French poets, was our reason for embarking on an intense concert tour through Flanders in 2020. His immortal poetry served as a rich source of inspiration for composers such as Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré and Reynaldo Hahn. Our concert programme with his wonderfully beautiful poems in colourful musical settings from the late 19th century fin-de-siècle and later Impressionism became so close to our hearts that we took the decision to immortalise it on CD.

Werner Van Mechelen Werner Van Mechelen studied at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven with Roland Bufkens and attended master classes with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Robert Holl, Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll and Malcolm King. He won several international prizes in major competitions including the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, the IVC in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Concours international du chant in Toulouse, the Concurso Internacional de Canto Francisco Viñas in Barcelona and the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Werner Van Mechelen made his debut at the Bayreuther Festspiele in the role of Klingsor in Wagner’s Parsifal in the summer of 2017, returning there to perform the role of Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a performance for children in the summer of 2019; he will appear again in Bayreuth as Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2021. He performed the leading role in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre with the NDR Hamburg under Alan Gilbert in the ElbPhilharmonie in the first half of 2019 and also played the Musiklehrer in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. Recent guest appearances include the Monk in Don Carlos at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Malaga, Alberich in Das Rheingold at the Saarländische Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, and Alberich in Der Ring des Nibelungen as well as Pizarro (Fidelio) at the Hamburg Staatsoper.
He also has a great predilection for the song repertoire, performing not only the great cycles by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, but also many works outside the usual repertoire. Pianists with whom he has collaborated include Jozef de Beenhouwer, Lucas Blondeel, Florestan Bataillie and Eric Schneider.
His discography shows his versatility, with CDs of songs by Schubert, Strauss, Debussy and Poulenc as well as works by the Flemish composers Mortelmans and Benoit. He has also taken part in recordings of Elijah (Mendelssohn), Don Giovanni (Mozart) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner). www.wernervanmechelen.eu

Florestan Bataillie Florestan Bataillie studied piano at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Boyan Vodenitcharov and Hans Ryckelynck, gaining his Master’s degree there. He then continued his studies for three more years as a recitalist under Jan Michiels. His period of study at the Conservatory was crowned with the Arnold Prize. He and his brother, the violinist Ludovic Bataille, perform together as the Adelfoi duo. They are also the artistic and business directors of the Meander Festival in the Leie – Schelde cultural region in Belgium. He and the sisters Fien and Riet Van den Fonteyne make up the Impression piano trio; they were coached by and received lessons from Dirk Vermeulen, Thomas Dieltjens, Gavriel Lipkind, Alexander Melnikov and Antje Weithaas among others. They won the international Storioni ensemble competition in the Netherlands in 2015, being awarded not only first prize, but also the Audience Prize and the prize awarded by Dutch broadcaster MAX. In 2016 they became laureates of the non-profit organisation S.W.U.K., thanks to which they were able to record their debut album Gypsy for the Dutch label Aliud. Florestan Bataillie was also selected to take part in the International Udo Reinemann Liedmasterclass as accompanist and was taught by world-renowned pedagogues and artists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Julius Drake and Dietrich Henschel during a year of intense specialisation. Not only does he collaborate regularly with bass-baritone Werner Van Mechelen and soprano Emma Posman, but he also places great emphasis on artistic crossover projects; his own compositions often figure in his own concert programmes. He toured throughout Flanders in 2018 with the Desguin String Quartet, Werner Van Mechelen and Stefaan Degand with their concert project In Flanders Fields and with their production Verlaine in 2020. He is much in demand as a freelance artist whose appearances include concerts with the Spectra Ensemble and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. Florestan Bataillie obtained a postgraduate degree in Art and Culture Management at Ghent University and a teaching diploma at the Erasmus Hogeschool in Brussels. In addition to his performing activities, he also teaches piano as part of the Deeltijds Kunstonderwijs programme. www.florestan.be

Desguin String Quartet The Desguin Quartet consists of Wolfram Van Mechelen and Ludovic Bataillie (violin), Rhea Van Hellemont (viola) and Pieter-Jan De Smet (cello) and was founded at the Conservatory of Antwerp in 2017. They were appointed Artists in Residence of SWUK Flanders in 2018 and were selected for the Pro Quartet Academy in Paris shortly afterwards. They were laureates and won the audience prize of the Supernova Classics competition in 2020 and were also selected by Le Dimore Del Quartetto in 2021. They have received masterclasses from Günther Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Gilles Millet and Guy Danel (Danel Quartet), Erik Schumann (Schumann Quartet) and the Zemlinsky Quartet, among others. The Desguin Quartet appear frequently at prestigious events and venues, including the Klara Festival, Klara in deSingel, Festival Odegand, Festival van Vlaanderen, Arte Amanti Chamber Music Festival and BOZAR Next Generation. www.desguinkwartet.be