Coudenberg Sound Box Fest 2025 - Voices Unbound

This fifth edition celebrates the human voice in all its forms, exploring its infinite nuances across centuries, cultures, and musical aesthetics. True to tradition, the 2025 program brings together renowned international artists and emerging Belgian talents.The festival will open with a programme centred on Mozart and Haydn, performed on period instruments by Il Gardellino and glass harmonica virtuoso Thomas Bloch, followed by Utopia Ensemble with a repertoire inspired by court music from the time of Charles V. Eugénie de Mey and Sofie Vanden Eynden will offer a poetic performance devoted to the theme of night. Le Pavillon de Musique, led by Ann Cnop, will spotlight 18th-century women composers, celebrating female creativity between Belgium and Italy. Unique duos — Didier François on nyckelharpa and Philippe Malfeyt on lute, Las Lloronas, and Naomi Berrill with Francesca Benetti — will enrich this sonic mosaic with folk, pop, and more contemporary shades. The Ricercar Consort, directed by Philippe Pierlot, will close the festival with a tribute to Spanish Baroque music, which profoundly influenced the Coudenberg Palace during the era of the Spanish Habsburgs.

This year marks a turning point with three major innovations. The festival launches NextGen 2025, a programme dedicated to emerging young ensembles. On 5 and 6 November, the groups selected by an international jury took part in workshops, seminars, and networking sessions with experts — including MA Festival, Forum Opera, and Das Haus. The winning ensemble, to be announced on 14 December during the CSBF closing evening, will perform in an exclusive concert at CSBF 2026 and receive a €1,000 prize. The festival also continues its outreach initiatives with Les Jeunesses Musicales, offering workshops, open rehearsals, and encounters that foster dialogue between artists and young audiences. In collaboration with the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (KCB), a public conference on the musical history of Brussels will inaugurate the “ReCoudenberg” project (2025–2031), aimed at reviving the Coudenberg’s musical heritage through historically informed concerts, interdisciplinary projects, interactive exhibitions, publications, and educational programs. Finally, audiences will experience Cubiculum Musicae, an immersive installation designed by RicercarLab (CNRS-CESR, Tours), which recontextualizes musical works within their historical and visual environments.