Esther-Elisabeth Rispens - Prix Caecilia

Talented Belgian mezzo-soprano Esther-Elisabeth Rispens has become a familiar presence at Bozar. In recent seasons, she impressed audiences with Luciano Berio’s highly virtuosic Sequenza III in Alexander Vantournhout’s dance production Sequenze, and appeared in the Henry Le Bœuf Hall with Nemø Ensemble. She now returns with the moving recital Reflections of the Heart. From Jonathan Dove’s haunting Ariel, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Rispens moves towards the colourful world of Xavier Montsalvatge’s Cinco canciones negras, where Antillean rhythms and themes intertwine. She also takes on Berio’s Quattro canzoni popolari, in which the Italian composer transforms four folk songs through his unmistakable language of unexpected timbres and musical fireworks. Two of these songs would later reappear in his celebrated cycle Folk Songs, dedicated to his then wife Cathy Berberian, in whose footsteps Rispens now follows with remarkable flair. In 2024, she was awarded the Caecilia Prize for Young Musician of the Year.