About us
From its home port of Bruges, string orchestra BRYGGEN boldly sets course for the North, along the routes of the Hanseatic League, all the way to Scandinavia and the Baltic. In search of new sounds and connections with cultures all around the world. With unified forces, now moving against the current, then harmoniously bathing in the tranquillity of immeasurably deep fjords.
Concerts
Private event
Sun — 28/06/2026 12:00 Beveren (Waregem)
BRYGGEN will be a guest at an exclusive private event on Sunday, June 28, 2026. We look forward to making it a memorable day with music and atmosphere tailored to the occasion.
Interested in engaging BRYGGEN for a private party, corporate event or other special occasion? Please feel free to contact us at info@bryggen.be and we will look at the possibilities together.
four seasons changed
Sat — 08/08/2026 19:00 Opera Vichy (FR)
Vivaldi reimagined with dance and endless patterns
Just as the seasons in nature shift and return, new interpretations can transform classical works. In this concert choreography, the boundaries between dance and music dissolve. BRYGGEN and choreographer
Michiel Vandevelde add a further layer to the rich texture Max Richter introduced in his 2012 reimagining
of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Richter’s score is performed from memory by the musicians of BRYGGEN, led by violinist Jolente De Maeyer, who move across the stage in continuous patterns. A solitary dancer weaves among them, at times contradicting the music, at others intensifying it.
The choreography follows the same compositional logic that underpins Richter’s reinterpretation of
Vivaldi. Across earlier works such as Ends of Worlds (2019), Neuer Neuer Tanz (2019), The Goldberg Variations (2020) and Dances of Death (2021), Vandevelde has examined dance history as a living archive. This interest meets Richter’s own dialogue with Vivaldi. Each season is linked to a distinct choreographic
lineage: spring draws on Isadora Duncan, summer on Anna Halprin, autumn on Pina Bausch, and winter on
Trisha Brown.
The electronic music for the prologue and epilogue is composed by Didem Coşkunseven. Together, these moments frame the cycle of birth and death, and the passage in between. The performance reflects on time itself: on how styles and forms, discourses and vocabularies constantly change, yet remain deeply interconnected.
By rethinking their stage presence, moving freely through the space and playing from memory, both dancer and musicians challenge the conventions of the concert format. What emerges is a shared search for how classical works can be lived, embodied and reshaped, not as fixed monuments, but as a living practice shaped by movement, adaptation and the pleasure of constant reinvention.
CREDITS
concept, musical direction, solo violin: Jolente De Maeyer
choreography, concept, scenography, lighting design: Michiel Vandevelde
dance: Amanda Barrio Charmelo
musical performance: BRYGGEN – Bruges Strings
music: Max Richter – Recomposed: The Four Seasons, Didem Coşkunseven – Traveler on a Winter’s Night, part 1 and 2
costumes: Milk of Lime
production: BRYGGEN – Bruges Strings
This production was realized with the support of the Belgian Federal Government’s tax shelter system via uFund
News
This was season 2024-2025….
We look back on a season full of great projects, special concerts, musical adventures and nice collaborations. See what that looked like here!