Spice up your lunchtime with Midis-Minimes

(ClubMediéval © Koen Broos)

The Midis-Minimes festival is now into its second month. Right throughout August it continues to serve up short lunchtime concerts every weekday at 12.15 pm in the Conservatory. Here’s our small selection of the wide array on offer.

On 6 August the young ClubMediéval ensemble provides a rare opportunity to sample the sophisticated polyphony of fourteenth-century Florence in the form of the love songs of Don Paolo da Firenze, an abbot who obviously knew a thing or two about life outside the monastery walls. On 14 August the flamboyant US harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, who recently received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Rameau, will be in town. His lunchtime concert devoted to Bach’s Ouverture nach Französischer Art will show just how well the brilliant German was able to absorb foreign influences, without travelling. Two days later Midis-Minimes reminds us that this year is the centenary of Igor Stravinsky’s now legendary – but evergreen – Rite of Spring. This performance of the version for two pianists and two percussionists is a must (16 August).

ArteMandoline’s concert also promises to be an original one, if only for the refined, intimate sound we can expect from the combination of mandolins, viola da gamba (bass viol), and guitar (27 August). The festival line-up, we noticed, also includes a number of laureates of the Queen Elisabeth Competition: on 22 August, Shadi Torbey will sing Romantic opera arias, while the closing concert on 30 August sees the celebrated violinist Ning Kam conduct the Kamerorkest in Bartók and Tchaikovsky.

Midis-Minimes • > 30/8, 12.15 > 12.50, €5, 5 concerts: €22, 10 concerts: €40, 20 concerts: €75, KONINKLIJK CONSERVATORIUM/CONSERVATOIRE ROYAL DE BRUXELLES, Regentschapsstraat 30 rue de la Régence, Brussel/Bruxelles, www.midis-minimes.be