SPECTRA ENSEMBLE (website)

Lukas Huisman is a member of the Spectra Ensemble.

Simplexity Piano Duo (website)

Ivo Delaere and Lukas Huisman studied together with Daan Vandewalle in the music faculty of the School of Arts in Ghent. They worked on major solo projects around music by Messiaen, Rzewski, Sorabji, Ferneyhough, Finnissy, Xenakis, ... After Lukas Huisman received his PhD on the research project Limits of nature and nature of limits they decided to start a project together. Their shared passion led to the formation of the Simplexity Piano duo. They aim at unraveling the intense link and interaction between Simplicity and Complexity. From 2017 they started taking master-classes with Piet Kuijken, Piet Van Bockstal, Paul De Clerck and France Springuel at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent. They also had an inspiring masterclass with Anna Scott on the style of old Brahms recordings from i.a. Ilona Eibenschütz.

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post-doc

In November 2018, Lukas started working on a post-doctoral artistic research project at the  School of Arts Ghent with as focus the fusion of eastern and western sound worlds in the works for piano of Japanese composers in the last 50 years: Color Chart for the Traveling Pianist.

Most traditional Japanese musical instruments display a tendency towards what we would call imperfect sound. Strings are strung in such a way that they make a buzzy sound, flutes are constructed to add a lot of wind noise to a tone. Other traditional Japanese instruments also create a living tone; a tone that tells a story and has a powerful expression of itself. As an increasing number of young Japanese composers show interest in their musical heritage, this quest for a rich color palette is renewed. Interestingly, these composers mostly write music for western instruments, which are traditionally perfected to produce a noise-free sound. An important factor in this research project is a dialogue with the new generation of Japanese composers and the analysis of their works. However, also in western music culture, many composers experimented with extended techniques to make instruments sound not quite like themselves.  On the other end of a spectrum, historically informed performance practice demonstrates that subtle changes in timing, dynamics, balance, etc. can result in different sound textures, possibly even without using period instruments. Furthermore, live electronics add another continent to the sound worlds that can be traveled to, using a piano. This broadening of the sound spectrum in all directions adds up to one big color chart, with a plethora of possibilities, from subtle arpeggiating of chords, choosing the right instrument and using its full potential, to extended techniques, preparations and live electronics. The almost endless terrain can, however, be a place to get lost in. Through the metaphor of another instrument, we can navigate this terrain, discover the potential of the piano anew and attune our ears to find similarities with instruments from other cultures. This in itself is a metaphor for how we can discover other cultures and find common grounds.

Graphology

Musical performative duo formed by Patrick Housen (live) electronics and Lukas Huisman (acoustic) piano. Project-based: in each project we create a 'field' while playing. Our source material is graphic work that we convert into a listening experience. Graphic objects are our building blocks that are taken out of context and deconstructed to carefully reconstruct them in our own narrative; in the search for the answer to the question: "How do we look at music & how do we listen to images?" Sounds and music, coming from the acoustic piano, are molded and interpreted using live processing and effects in a shared sound world. The graphic source material is projected live, with our working sketches displayed as an overlay to provide visual support to the listener.

Warped Time Ensemble

Claudia Ibarra and Lukas Huisman together created the Warped Time ensemble. They played Birds in Warped Time 2 by Satoh, 4 Pieces by  Webern as well as the complete works for piano and violin by  Messiaen. Danré Strydom joined them when they played the Adagio for violin, clarinet and piano by Berg. A little later, Eline Duerinck joined to play the cello part of the Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Messiaen. This successful cooperation resulted in a series of concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. They decided to play more music together in the future, and so the Warped Time ensemble was born. The ensemble plays in changing formations. They played a concert series in BE, NL, BOL and MEX with  Schönbergs Pierrot Lunaire. Their most recent program with voice, cello and piano contained works by Strauss, Delibes, Stravinsky and Bernstein. This program was heard on many occasions in the Netherlands and in the series Young soloists Oost-Vlaanderen 2014.

Collaborations: Claudia Ibarra, violin and viola / Robin Van Heghe, violin / Lukas Huisman, piano / Danré Strydom, clarinet and bass clarinet / Eline Duerinck, cello / Annelies Heyvaert, flute and piccolo / Anna Pardo Canedo, voice and Sprechstimme / Sabine Schmitz, clarinet and bass clarinet / Benjamin Glorieux, conductor / Filip Rathé, conductor.

PHD

In September 2016, Lukas received a PhD for his research on the notation in the piano works of Sorabji, Xenakis, Ferneyhough and Finnissy, Limits of nature and nature of limits. (Artistic doctorate from School of Arts Ghent and Ghent University, IPEM.)

This dissertation examines the works of four composers that explore the physical and mental limits of the performer. The subject is approached via their oeuvre for solo piano. The Opus Clavicembalisticum (Cadenza I, Adagio, Coda. Stretta) and the Symphonic Nocturne by Sorabji, Evryali by Xenakis, Lemma-Icon-Epigram by Ferneyhough and Midsomer morn (from the English Country-tunes) by Finnissy are analysed. These works exemplify the excess of specification of one or more musical parameters. In certain cases, this problematizes the relation between score and performer. The pianist is being confronted with new liberties and therefore new responsibilities when performing these works. The question, how are these scores to be played was answered in four case studies about the four composers mentioned earlier. Focussing on the traditional score, this question can be narrowed down to, what accumulated knowledge about the proper performance of these works can be added to a new score and thus passed on to the next performer?

Tinnitus Piano Duo

The Tinnitus piano duo originated from years of collaboration between Tine Allegaert and Lukas Huisman. They played works by composers ranging from Bach, Debussy and Ravel, to Piano Phase by Reich and Gemini by Devreese. In early 2011 they asked Jeroen De Brauwer to write a full-length collection of technically challenging music, which also uses new playing techniques and displays the performers as more than mere musicians. This resulted in the 12 Études.

Compositions

He took (algorithmic) composition classes with Godfried-Willem Raes for five years. In 2011, he was asked to write the Trefpunt composition assignment which was played as part of the concert series Gentse Vleugels at the music and theatre festival Gentse Feesten. Also, the Kalès Guitarquartet asked him to write a piece, which was played on the Festival van Vlaanderen, Kortrijk in 2013.

Chamber music works

• Woorden... achter tralies / arr. of PoMo & MoMo for Kalès guitar quartet, Played on Festival van Vlaanderen, Kortrijk
• Finagle's law / piano, Trefpunt composition assignment, Gentse Feesten (2011)
• 2 Schetsen / flute, cello and piano (2011)
• PoMo / violin and piano (2010)

Works for M&M Robot orchestra

• Spleen (2010)
• +BWV869+1 (2010)
• Montpellier live (2010)
• MoMo (2010)
• 2009: review (2009)
• Ommagio (2009)
• 5 Free projections (2008)
• Teen Batti (2007)
• Sonate in S (2007)
• QED (2007)
• 3 Plagiaatinventies (2006)

Tape

Ogen / electronic music for one-minute video by Diederik Suykens (2006)