»Soplarte«
Gent, Performance, B 2008

Soplarte was founded in Autumn of 2008, out of Charlotte Van Wouwe’s urge to unite sound and image. This resulted in the first glass-blown wind instruments. Experienced musicians were asked to join the search fpr different the possibilities of these instruments. A few months later, the quartet had its first performances in Ghent.

The research continued and, after an intense period of improvisation, Charlotte mapped the possibilities of the instruments and handed them out to two composers. They both wrote a composition, each with a different angle and vocabulary, that has been and is being performed, for instance during the festival of Flanders. Due to the need to enrich the audio colour palette, new instruments for two people, one blower and one voice, have been created. This double use of the instrument creates an extra dimension of intimate space. The breath of both players is interconnected and each one influences the other. The performers move in space, take distance, come closer to each other and therefore create therefore a visual-spacial equivalent to the musical effect that they are producing.

Charlotte Van Wouwe, * 1988 in Gent, studied Visual Arts at the High School for Science and Art in Sint-Lucas Gent