Students choosing the ADVANCED MASTER in Contemporary Music programme at the Royal Conservatory / School of Arts Ghent work under the guidance of the Ictus and Spectra contemporary music ensembles, on projects with an emphatic focus on recently composed music. Students specialize in contemporary music, as soloists or members of the GAME ensemble. They play an active role in creating new works by both young and established composers. Admission exams are held every year.
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GAME
(The Student Orchestra)

The Ghent Advanced Master Ensemble aka GAME unites different collaborations between students of the advanced master programme contemporary music of the Ghent Conservatory.

CONTACT

Joris Blanckaert (Ghent School of Arts)
Tom De Cock (Ictus)

STUDENTS 2026-2027

Students 1st Year

Roberto Fontanella: percussion
Luis Ramos Güemes: percussion
Aleksandra Jopek: violin
Ano Matchavariani: voice
Farid Shahsar: flute

Students 2nd Year

Liese Lotte Bekaert: percussion
Joseph Chan: viola
Xiao Cheng: clarinet
Nolan Ehlers: percussion
Ghazal Faghihi: clarinet
Joan German: saxophone
Sarah Grace Graves: voice
Chipok Lee: saxophone
Zoe Markle: double bass
Ali Choupani Nejad: flute
Isa Opstaele: double bass
Julen Latorre Urbaneta: clarinet
Leander Vertriest: accordion
Siyi Xia: violin

ACADEMIC YEAR SEASON 2026-27

Provisional planning

►first half of October 2026 Janica Draisma Opera Project @Ictus Studios or Ghent Conservatory www.janicadraisma.com

►19 to 22 October 2026 workshop with Joke Caimo @SMOG Brussels with Julia Eckhardt https://jocaimo.blogspot.com

►2-12 November 2026 Project week at the school and Miry Proverbs program with a.o. Tehillim by Steve Reich LINK

►23-24-25 november 2026 Hanne Darboven project with [Victor Guaita](https://www.victorguaita.com- @Gent Conservatory Room 2.7

►7-11 December 2026 Simon Loeffler Project LINK @Room 2.7 and concert at Miry Concert Hall

►11 January-12 February 2027 Collaboration at PARTS 5 afternoons per week over 5 weeks, With Selma and Soufiane Ouissi about the proves of Laaroussa Quartet LINK

►1-5 February 2027 Collaboration with Spectra Ensemble @Spectra Studios Melle Some of you will be playing in Chroma by Rebecca Saunders with the ensemble.

►21 February 2027 Museum Abby finissage @Festival Kortrijk Output of the collaboration with PARTS, 3 trios of this year Dialogue with the new art at the museum.

►7 March 2027 Percussion Festival @Concertgebouw Bruges RLLR by Julian Sartorius

►15-19 March 2027 pProject week BIP+ with conservatories Cologne and Lyon Jessie Cox in combination with the minor Creative Orchestra LINK

►April 2027 dates TBC @The Mill Brussels Need Company, Maarten Seghers workshop

►May 2027 date TBC @De Bijloke Gent Xenakis solos and chamber music

►1-7 May 2027 Alliantieproject Kobe Van Cauwenberghe

►Concerts 5, 6, 7 May @ de Singel Antwerp, Ictus Studios and Miry Concert Hall Music by George Lewis, hopefully in his presence!

►Second half of May 2027 Lyra Pramuk preparation Nacht van de Verbeelding

►Gent Festival beginning of September 2027 In combination with Curatorial Days

ARCHIVE 2025-26

► 29 September until 2 October 2025: Nacht van de Verbeelding organised by Festival van Vlaanderen Gent, coach Aïda Gabriëls. 3 museums are curated by Aïda and GAME, performances and installations. Program options for now: 1+1=1 van Billone for 2 bass clarinets by Julen and Inaki, Bycicle piece by Ali Choupani Nejad, Euler’s discs participative installation, fishbowl installation by Edoardo.

► 10-17-24 October 2025, always 9 to 12h, first three rehearsals of Music for 18 Musicians (from GAME: 3 percussion, 1 piano, 2 clarinets, violin, one singer and myself)

► Second half of October, 20-23 October 2025: workshop and concert with Jonathan Cant @ Q-O2 Brussel.

► 30 October 2025: Ruiskamer #1 with Masayoshi Fujita and Bertel Schollaert & Hein Devos @ Miry Concertzaal, GAME support act.

► 3, 5 & 6 November 2025: Rehearsals and concert Music for 18 Musicians @ Miry Concertzaal

► 10 until 14 November 2025: Projectweek with composer Maya Verlaak @ Conservatorium Gent.

► 26 November 2025: Ruiskamer #2 with Water Ghost @ Miry Concertzaal, GAME support act. The rest of the Ruiskamer dates will be decided later. Always on Wednesdays or Thursdays, basically one Ruiskamer per month.

► 27&28 November 2025: preparatory workshop @ Conservatorium Gent with Alexandre Babel and Stéphane Garin for the performance in Bozar in January.

► 13-21 December 2025: Stadssymfonie with Heleen Vanhaegenborgh en Thomas Verstraeten in de Singel, Antwerp. Participatory project where you will be in charge of a group of amateur musicians, building an ‘orchestra’ with daily objects and tools. We will collaborate with KCB and Conservatorium Antwerpen.

► 17 until 18 January 2026: Bozar Percussion Festival @ Hortahal Bozar: Pauline Oliveiros with coaches Alexandre Babel and Stéphane Garin. Not only for percussionists! everyone can join!

► 26 January until 1 February 2026: Preparation and public showing of the opening of the new Van Volxemsite of Rosas and Ictus: Hoketus by Louis Andriessen with PARTS and other repertoire.

► First half of February 2026: Option to re-perform RLLR.XXL by Sartorius at the Van Volxemsite.

► 16-22 February 2026: Spinrag Festival Kortrijk: NEST performances within the festival like this year. The Curating Lab will most probably be imbedded in this festival week, so we can bring the talks in practice directly.

► 9 until 13 March 2026: Interdisciplinary projectweek with composer Sarah Wéry @ KASK/Conservatorium Gent

► Between 13 and 26 April 2026: SMOG worksho with Vera Cavallin and Pak Yan Lau. Concert with the output of this workshop in the last Ruiskamer in Gent. TBC exact dates

► First half of May, with presentations in the week of 11 May 2026: Trio’s with the dancers of PARTS.Extra things to be planned in the second half of the academic year:

► Deep Breathing workshop with Michael Schmid

► Possible collaboration with the new ensemble from Gorizia, Italy. This ensemble unites young Italian and Slovenian musicians for two years in Ljubljana and Gorizia. We have a first session with them in July 2025.

► Project Spectra/Joris/LOD TBC

► 5 à 6 support acts for Ruiskamers in total.Follow the GAME ensemble on their blog.

ARCHIVE 2024-25

► 30 September to 2 October 2024,

Ikbal Lubys & Aii Wijayanti Anik: workshop about improvisation
@ Q-O2 Brussels, Performance 2 October in the evening

► 2 October 2024
Ruiskamer #1 (support act for Sosena Gebre Eyesus)

@ Miry Concert Hall Gent
Eleonora Serani: solo harp

► 17/ or 18 October 2024

Workshop audio technique: 10-17h @ Q-O2 Brussels
Coach: Claudia Profanter

► 11 to 14 November 2024

Workshop + concert: @ KASK/Conservatorium Gent, Miry Concert Hall
Coach: Liisa Hirsch

► 19 November 2024

Concert: @ Theater Marni, Brussels, Festival Ars Musica - Game percussionists with Trio Erämaa and Quartetto Prometeo

► 4 December 2024

Ruiskamer #3: Marimba Phase on micro marimbas (support act for Morton Feldman's "Three Voices" by Maris Pajuste)
Hui-Chi Li and Edoardo Parente: percussion

► 7 December 2024 (Set-Up 6 December)

Concert: @ De Bijloke Gent, Ear to the Ground Festival
Coaches: Svetlana Maras, Benjamin Van Esser, Tom De Cock

► 11 or 12 January 2025 TBC

Curating Lab: 10-17h @ Wilde Westen Kortrijk
Speakers: TBC

► 27 January to 7 February 2025

Braxton Toolbox: 10-13h @ P.A.R.T.S. Brussels
Coaches: Ictus & Rosas

► 5 or 12 February 2025

Ruiskamer #4 Support Act

► 19 to 21 February 2025

Sciarrino Conference + internal concerts: @ Orpheus Institute Gent
Coaches: various international speakers and coaches
Concert: 20 February

► 9 to 12 March 2025

Workshop + concert: @ KASK/Conservatorium Gent, Miry Concert
Ruiskamer #5 Support Act

► 23 April 2025

Ruiskamer #6 Support Act

► 8 to 11 May 2925

Workshop + concert: Ictus Project: Georges-Elie Octors Legacy: @ Ictus Studios Brussels
Coaches: Georges-Elie Octors, Tom De Cock

► 20 to 23 May 2025

Workshop + Concert: @ SMOG Brussels
Coach: Marie Delprat

ALUMNI 2009-2026

They followed the Advanced Master cursus:

Konstantinos Andreou
▷Sara Baldini
▷Alejandro Fenollosa Beltran
▷Marieke Berendsen
▷Jacqueline Bernd
▷Kalliope Bolovinou
▷Romy-Alice Bols▷Ruben Borges
▷Ana-Filipa Botelho
▷Jasper Braet
▷Inaki Marcos Bueno
▷Anita Cappuccinelli
▷Alberto Cavallaro
▷Fabian Coomans
▷Nico Couck
▷Anne Davids
▷Cédric De Bruycker
▷Pieter Delaere
▷Véronique Delcambre
▷Marina Delicado
▷Chrissy Dimitriou
▷Teresa Doblinger
▷Maria Dominguez Perez
▷Rodrigo Evangelista
▷Kaja Farszky
▷Simon Florin
▷Nina Fukuoka
▷Amaury Geens
▷Nele Geubels
▷Filippo Gillono
▷Sinouhé Gilot
▷Ward Ginneberge
▷Camille Guénot
▷Elliott Harrison
▷Iryna Hrytsiv
▷Andres Ibanez
▷Anna Sakham Jalving
▷Maria-José Jeannin
▷Jona Kesteleyn
▷Tatevik Khoja-Eynatuan
▷Hyeyoung Kim
▷Miho Kiyokawa
▷Corey Klein
▷Hanna Kölbel
▷Matthias Koole
▷Kaya Kuwabara
▷Pieter Lenaerts
▷Clara Levy
▷Hui-Chi Li
▷Pablo Paz Lopez
▷Benjamin Maneyrol
▷Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg
▷Elisa Medinilla
▷Leonardo Melchionda
▷Sara Méndez
▷Lucas Messler
▷Quentin Meurisse
▷Felix Nagl
▷Rubén Martinez Orio
▷Charlotte Otte
▷Maris Pajuste
▷Edoardo Parente
▷Pieter Pellens
▷Sara Picavet
▷Gian Ponte
▷Carlo Prampolini
▷Hugo Ranilla
▷Hannah Reardon-Smith
▷Catherina Roberti
▷Mar Sala Romagosa
▷Francisco Rojas Huertas
▷Gwenaëlle Rouger
▷Adam Rosenblatt
▷Christopher Salvito
▷Carlo Sampaolesi
▷Sara Sanchez
▷Dejana Sekulić
▷Eleonora Serani
▷Carlo Siega
▷Tania Sikelianou
▷Primož Sukič
▷Aya Suzuki
▷Anna Svetlakova
▷Tomoko Taguchi
▷Tomonori Takeda
▷Denise Tamburi
▷Federico Tramontana
▷Jutta Troch▷
Yukari Uekawa
▷Sjors van der Mark
▷Erika Vega
▷Seth Parker Woods
▷Noriko Yakushiji
▷An Zeeuwst