The Ensemble
BIOGRAPHY
Ictus is a contemporary music ensemble based in Brussels, born in 1994 as the live band for Rosas dance company. Founded at a time when ensembles were considered mini-orchestras made up of virtuoso soloists, Ictus emerges today as a collective of creative musicians dedicated to experimental music in its broadest sense: written music, sound art, improvisation and electronics. Ictus is an artist-driven structure consisting of some 30 people spread over three generations. It has become a regular partner of numerous curators, choreographers and large-scale groups, such as Brussels Philharmonic and Collegium Vocale Gent, while developing its own projects in a variety of formats. Its work is available on a Youtube channel as well as a rich web archive, ictus.be, with almost 300 documented projects. Ictus is conducting an advanced Master’s programme for young musicians with the School of Arts Gent.
OUR PROJECT
Ictus is an ensemble devoted to creation in the field of contemporary music until the borders of sound art. Ictus creates concerts, theater and dance shows in a wide variety of formats: from the most intimate chamber music to monumental projects.
Ictus aims as far as possible to reconcile, or at least combine, the heritage of modernism (born in the 1950s as the heir to European romanticism), with experimental and alternative musical genres that have transformed musical life worldwide since the ’60s, wherever they lie along the scale from “popular” to “specialised”.
Ictus is an institution created and led by musician-performers, brought together by a taste for the performing arts and the inherent risks involved. The creation of a band (and not only a network) remains at the heart of its preoccupations. Ictus is organised inclusively by mixing generations, striving for a gender balance on and off the stage, and embracing different types of knowledge and expertise.
We proceed from the belief that music today is no longer exclusively based on exploration of musical writing, but engages many other learning processes. Ictus questions the very notion of interpretation in all its forms, going beyond the somewhat soggy notions of excellence or multidisciplinarity: it engages playing techniques, instrument making, collective practices and individual body languages, questions of electronics, acoustics and amplification, ways of listening, ideology and meaning.
Ictus strives to play its part in its sector and is actively involved in transmission: both in the academic context (School of Arts Gent) and by supporting emerging musical initiatives, or by documenting, archiving and making its productions public. Whatever Ictus does, knows or can do is at all times available to the community of its musical colleagues and students, and the general public.
Networks
Instagram
Youtube
Facebook
Bandcamp