La Petite Bande

Will Sigiswald Kuijken and Marleen Thiers make their annual pilgrimage this year, in spite of Corona? Yes, they will!

They will start on May 2nd, and walk until May 31st ...

Like every year, they will dedicate their journey to their beloved baroque orchestra "La Petite Bande", with which they hope to perform until the 50th anniversary of the group, in 2022.

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Happy Easter 2020. !!!

For your - and our - consolation in front of the sad arriving of an Easter in confinement, without mutual visits to familiy and friends, we send you here-under this old Chinese tale ...

May this story encourage you, and bring confidence in the future :

----- The three Chinese mystics----

I have heard about three monks. No name is mentioned, because they never told their names to anybody, they never answered anything. So in China they are only known simply as “the three laughing monks.”
They did only one thing: they would enter a village, stand in the marketplace, and start laughing.

Suddenly people would become aware and they would laugh with their whole being. Then others would also get the infection, and then a crowd would gather, and just looking at them the whole crowd would start laughing. What is happening? Then the whole town would get involved, and they would move to another town. They were loved very much. That was their only sermon, the only message — that laugh. And they would not teach, they would simply create the situation.
Then it happened they became famous all over the country — the three laughing monks. The whole of China loved them, respected them. Nobody had preached that way — that life must be just a laughter and nothing else. And they were not laughing at anybody in particular, but simply laughing as if they had understood the cosmic joke. They spread so much joy all over China without using a single word. People would ask their names but they would simply laugh, so that became their name, the three laughing monks.
Then they became old, and in one village one of the three monks died. The whole village was very expectant, filled with expectations, because now at least when one of them had died they must weep. This would be something worth seeing, because no one could even conceive of these people weeping.
The whole village gathered. The two monks were standing by the side of the corpse of the third and laughing such a belly laugh. So the villagers asked, “At least explain this!”
So for the first time they spoke, and they said : “We are laughing because this man has won. We were always wondering who would die first, and this man has defeated us. We are laughing at our defeat, at his victory. He lived with us for many years, and we laughed together and we enjoyed each other’s togetherness, presence. There can be no other way of giving him the last send-off, we can only laugh.”
The whole village was sad, but when the dead monk’s body was put on the funeral pyre, then the village realized that not only were these two joking — the third who was dead was also laughing… because the third man who was dead had told his companions, “Don’t change my dress!” It was conventional that when a man died they changed the dress and gave a bath to the body, so he had said, “Don’t give me a bath because I have never been unclean. So much laughter has been in my life that no impurity can accumulate near me, can even come to me. I have not gathered any dust, laughter is always young and fresh. So don’t give me a bath and don’t change my clothes.”
So just to pay him respect they had not changed his clothes. And when the body was put on the fire, suddenly they became aware that he had hidden many things under his clothes and those things started… Chinese fireworks ! So the whole village laughed, and those two said, “You rascal! You have died, but again you have defeated us. Your laughter is the last.”
                                                                -----
  An Indian Sage  gave following comment to this tale:
The laugh is eternal, life is eternal, life continues. Other actors make thier appearance, but the play goes on. You laugh, and after you somebody else laughs, but the laughter is not silenced. You celebrate a feast, after you somebody else celebrates a feast, but the feast is going on. - Existence is never-ending , it is a continuum;  there is no interruption in it. No death is "THE" death, because every death opens a new door : it is a beginning. There is no end to life, always there is a new beginning, a resurrection.If you know how to transform your sadness and distress into festive joy, you will also be able to transform your death into resurrection. Learn this art, now that you still have time.
                                                                      -----

A sign of life from Sigiswald Kuijken

A sign of life, from Sigiswald Kuijken  ------ April 6th 2020

Like so many of our colleagues in these times, also the musicians who were going to perform with LPB - or with Sigiswald in chambermusic-context - have been struck by the social restrictions which are being imposed nowadays for understandable reasons, and which are turning upside-down the public life for an unknown duration.
Every where, all concerts are canceled because of Corona - and for the moment it is impossible to predict if (and when) they will be re-scheduled later.

This new situation urges us to look closer to our life-philosophy; it wakes up our conscience. We have to give and show a significant and practical priority to our essential and profound convictions, in front of the danger of looking out merely and simply to return as soon as possible to our way of life of "before"...

Happily, a crisis like the one which we are now going through gives birth to an increased and more conscious solidarity in many hearts. There, a mentality-change is operating, coming up from deeper regions of our being, near the unspeakable source where life takes its origin.

It is important to take care for this fresh energy: it should flow out freely and clearly, in order to bring forth good fruits.
Therefore, it is essential to stay in positive mood during this strange chaos. Our social vibrations really do influence all those who cross our path (even from a distance, I like to add) - so it makes a difference!  The suggestion by Angela Merkel (the German chancellor), to take one extra second to look into each other's eyes when meeeting or passing another person, and to smile while doing so, is very beautiful and welcome...!

Music can bring a real consolation to those who are not in a position to take practical initiatives: the force of beauty comes from very deep and unknown layers within us, where also the miracles of love come from...
So listen and enjoy, take all your time to connect yourself to vibrations of beauty, in these days of compulsary confinement and (for many of us) technical unemployment...

Please take care to improve your immunity!  This is the most important - do enough physical movement, breath consciously and enjoy the sun (which is always there, also when clouds hide it ... and even during the night, when it is daytime for others!)
Let us appreciate and fully enjoy the (not so surprising) improvement of the environmental quality, which Nature's force is offering us today during this crisis in our globalized modern world.
Our spirits should be directed towards everything which can honour our Mother Earth and our whole world, of which we all are a thiny but unique element.

Salve,
Sigiswald Kuijken

Like so many of our colleagues in these times, also the musicians who were going to perform with LPB - or with Sigiswald in chambermusic-context - have been struck by the social restrictions which are being imposed nowadays for understandable reasons, and which are turning upside-down the public life for an unknown duration.
Every where, all concerts are canceled because of Corona - and for the moment it is impossible to predict if (and when) they will be re-scheduled later.

This new situation urges us to look closer to our life-philosophy; it wakes up our conscience. We have to give and show a significant and practical priority to our essential and profound convictions, in front of the danger of looking out merely and simply to return as soon as possible to our way of life of "before"...

Happily, a crisis like the one which we are now going through gives birth to an increased and more conscious solidarity in many hearts. There, a mentality-change is operating, coming up from deeper regions of our being, near the unspeakable source where life takes its origin.

It is important to take care for this fresh energy: it should flow out freely and clearly, in order to bring forth good fruits.
Therefore, it is essential to stay in positive mood during this strange chaos. Our social vibrations really do influence all those who cross our path (even from a distance, I like to add) - so it makes a difference!  The suggestion by Angela Merkel (the German chancellor), to take one extra second to look into each other's eyes when meeeting or passing another person, and to smile while doing so, is very beautiful and welcome...!

Music can bring a real consolation to those who are not in a position to take practical initiatives: the force of beauty comes from very deep and unknown layers within us, where also the miracles of love come from...
So listen and enjoy, take all your time to connect yourself to vibrations of beauty, in these days of compulsary confinement and (for many of us) technical unemployment...

Please take care to improve your immunity!  This is the most important - do enough physical movement, breath consciously and enjoy the sun (which is always there, also when clouds hide it ... and even during the night, when it is daytime for others!)
Let us appreciate and fully enjoy the (not so surprising) improvement of the environmental quality, which Nature's force is offering us today during this crisis in our globalized modern world.
Our spirits should be directed towards everything which can honour our Mother Earth and our whole world, of which we all are a thiny but unique element.

Salve,
Sigiswald Kuijken

Sigiswald Kuijken welcomes you to the RENEWED website of his baroque orchestra La Petite Bande!

La Petite Bande sympathises with all those who continue to search the deeper sense and content of the existence, and who feel the fascination of true Art - in all fields, of all times, of all origines and cultures..

On January 1st 2020, it was exactly three years since the Flemish Government decided to stop all subventions for La Petite Bande. With the mental support of friends and fans, and by different initiatives (also unconventional ones) my wife Marleen Thiers and I myself succeeded to keep the orchestra alive n spite of all - and this is for us a source of deep satisfaction. It requires a continuous never-ending effort , but at the same time we feel that everything which is still possible (and which we can still achieve) is a present - like life is in itself . Small is beautiful, and less is more : we learn to live with these proverbs and we are aware that all these difficulties lead us to the essential , to a deeper understanding.

Without the particular and almost daily help of our volunteer collaborator and administrator Herman Siebens, we would never be able to go on in this way. We thank him above all for his work in this situation!

In what follows, I would like to inform and explain to you a bit more about some aspects of La Petite Bande's life and projects in this year:

In 2013, when the orchestra was denied for the first time all official support, Marleen and I had the idea to find some financial reserve for the ensemble through a specific campaign which was linked to a book that I wrote intentionally for that occasion: "Bleib bei uns, Bach" (Abide with us, Bach). This book could only be obtained via a substantial donation to LPB, by choosing one out of three donation-formulas that we proposed. This action was very successful and helped the orchestra to survive - and at the same time I could share my life-long experience and insights about J.S.Bach with our audiences and all those who are interested .
During 2018 and 2019 , I have been writing again a book with a similar goal - the title of which is: "My Mozart -- His Magic Flute" . Indeed , since more than 40 years Mozart has been a like a constant ferment in my life as a musician. In his opera "The Magic Flute" he reveals himself completely...his book is obtainable up to now only in the original (dutch) version ; english, french and german translation are on the way. The subscription is open since November 2019 - elsewhere on this website you will find precise information about this.

You may know that LPB has been performing and recording between 2004 and 2012 about sixty Cantatas by J.S.Bach : one cantata for each Sunday of the liturgic calendar, plus some extras for specific feasts. Like this, Bachs cantatas became one of the leading themes of the orchestra's work.
LPB has been given the possibilty to perform during 2020 one more dozen of Bach-Cantatas which are not included in the already recorded 19 CDs. This story is quite unusual: Thomas Bauer, himself a wellknown bass singer, has been the motor behind the construction of a highy unconventional and amazing Konzerthaus in the little village of Blaibach, in the Regensburg-area; besides being a unique architectural concept, this Konzerthaus develops an impressive programmation, which includes our Bach-Cantatas as a seperate series entitled "Soli Deo Gloria". Some of the concerts will also be held in a nearby Baroque Monastery-building, and all of the cantatas will be recorded for ACCENT.

Furthermore, LPB will perform Bach's Matthew Passion 3 times in Japan, beginning November of 2020 : in Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo, in important concert-halls. Normally I would only accept to perform Bach's Passions during the period of the year where they belong , namely in the 40 days before Easter - but given the fact that in the East the Christian calendar is not so in-born in peoples tradition, I decided to accept these performances as an exception... We will enjoy this unique work again.

La Petite Bande's yearly Summer Academy (see information on this website) in the beautiful old village of Collevecchio (100 km north of Rome) will bring together for the nineth time singers and instrumentalists from diiferent countries and continents. Under he direction of our daughter Marie Kuijken and myself, large excerpts of Mozart's opera Idomeneo will be studied, in the light of 18th century staging... Working on this original scenic performing style with Marie, has proven to be for many singers a way of liberating body and spirit, in order to approach the inside of the piece they perform, with all its variety and richness. Also the instrumentalists can take big advantage of this work, as it opens their spirit and views as well - Besides the Idomeneo-work, a lot of baroque chamber music and more concertant repertory will be studied under my guidance.

Consulting this website you will also find all necessary information about the chambermusic concerts of the members of our Kuijken-family, often in variable combinations with colleagues who share the same spirit...

To all readers of this, I wish an inner life full of warmth and beauty ...

Sigiswald Kuijken

New book: “MY MOZART ... HIS MAGIC FLUTE”

Sigiswald and Mozart became a unity in this book.
Mozarts Magic Flute is being revealed here in its essence by Sigiswald, in a loving and simple way - without over-intellectual reflexions, nor trendy ‘new interpretations’.

More information

Message by Sigiswald Kuijken

As you might know, for reasons that are not properly understood the Flemish Government terminated its guaranteed annual financial support for La Petite from January 1st 2013: we are the only Belgian orchestra to be treated in this manner, despite our international reputation and extensive discography and contribution to Belgian, European and indeed worldwide musical life. The loss of Government financial support has put La Petite Bande in serious financial difficulties, and we are all working very hard to raise money to ensure that our unique orchestra can continue its work. We are sure that we will succeed, but to do so we need your support, to ensure that we will be able to continue our work and make music!
More information to support the orchestra, as explained by Sigiswald, can be found here:

Joining the new 'LPB Friend group'

Will Sigiswald Kuijken and Marleen Thiers make their annual pilgrimage this year, in spite of Corona? Yes, they will!

Happy Easter 2020. !!!

A sign of life from Sigiswald Kuijken

Sigiswald Kuijken welcomes you to the RENEWED website of his baroque orchestra La Petite Bande!

New book: “MY MOZART ... HIS MAGIC FLUTE”

Message by Sigiswald Kuijken

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