6/04/2025 – 15:00
Dropa House
It’s more than time for a Dropa House update. Key players Daniel Levin, Michel Doneda, and Audrey Lauro, along with eager newcomers Stanzi Cresens and Marieke D’hose, will introduce you to our brand new creative hub for adventurous music and sound at this exclusive sneak peek.
The capacity for this Dropa House Sneak Peek – with music, drinks, and homemade food – is limited. Getting your tickets in advance is recommended…
French reed player Michel Doneda (1954) is one of the major figures of the improvised scene, preacher of sound action, fiercely free and definitely poetic. Soprano saxophone virtuoso, he is in the line of Sydney Bechet, Steve Lacy or Evan Parker, and like his elders he inscribes his work in a contemporaneity necessary for all pioneers of new sound territories.
An attentive traveler listening to the world, he has not stopped surveying the continents for more than thirty years and multiplying the collaborations, from pygmies from Gabon and the Basque singer Beñat Achiary through Barre Phillps and Sonic Youth. Michel Doneda apprehends sound in its most concrete sense, listening and giving as much detail as possible to “go inside”. His music invites to a journey in an incredible sound space carried by inspiration and breathing.
Doneda’s work has been a source of inspiration for the French, Brussels-based alto saxophonist, Audrey Lauro. She has been devoting her energies to experimental music and improvisation for years, constantly questioning the language of instrument, phrase and sonic event.
Mostly focusing on improvised music, she has performed with broad range of artists: from Pak Yan Lau, Yuko Oshima and Sofia Kakouri to Mette Rasmussen, Ken Vandermark, Giotis Damianidis and recently Lia Kohl, Tom Malmendier and Luis Lopes in the Oorstof series. In October 2024 the New York label Relative Pitch released Prose Métallique her impressive new solo album.
Free jazz and improvisation, classical and contemporary composition, microtonality, and experimentation – these are just a few of the elements that define the work of American cellist Daniel Levin. This is evident in his mesmerizing solo performances and the impressive array of collaborations he has cultivated over the years. Think of artists such as Billy Bang, Borah Bergman, Nate Wooley, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, Joe Morris, William Parker, Ken Vandermark, Chris Corsano, Joe McPhee, and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
With his third solo release on the horizon – set for March 7, 2025, on the Ears & Eyes label – Levin now journeys to Dropa House to deliver a rare solo set in this part of the world.
Under the guidance of guitarist Frederik Leroux, Antwerp Conservatory students Stanzi Cresens (cello) and Marieke D’hose (accordion) have steadily developed their own distinctive sound on their instruments. Both musicians made a notable impression during the 2024 Summer Bummer Festival as part of Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra CBA and gained profound insights into the art of improvisation during a workshop with the legendary French bassist Joëlle Léandre at Werkplaats Walter.
As a duo, they delve deeply into the acoustic soundscape of their instruments. Through improvisation, they blend their sounds so seamlessly that it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish one from the other—while embarking on a journey to uncover beauty in its broadest sense.
