FIRST DOCARTES PHD
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LUK VAES is the first musician to obtain a docARTES PhD; docARTES is the doctoral programme in musical arts running at the Orpheus Institute (together with its Flemish and Dutch partners) since 2004. |
Luk Vaes promoted to the degree of Doctor in the Arts on December 22nd 2009 at Leiden University, The Netherlands. On February 25 2010 Luk Vaes presented his research results on "Extended Piano Techniques" during a lecture-recital at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent.
Making a glissando (or glide) over the piano keys as if you were gliding over the strings of a violin, producing so-called clusters on the keys with your fist or forearm, plucking the strings inside the piano, striking the piano strings, shortening a string with your finger while playing in order to create a higher note, sawing through a piano: these are all examples of extended piano techniques, the subject of Ghent pianist Luk Vaes´ dissertation.
| "I have shown that this is not some 20th century innovation, but that it has a much longer history; you can make beautiful music using these techniques and it doesn´t have to damage the instrument, if you know what you´re doing." |  |
(c) photo Mara Jong
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Luk Vaes studied with Cl.A.Coppens, Aloys Kontarsky, Yvonne Loriod, Olivier Messiaen and Yvar Mikhashoff. He won several competitions and prizes for new music performance in Belgium, Italy, Germany and the US; produced radio- and TV recordings on new music for the piano; several national and international composers dedicated their compositions to him; he was the guest of prominent international festivals, such as the Salzburger and Berliner Festspiele, the London Almeida Festival, Musica Strasbourg, ISCM Warschau, Huddersfield New Music Festival, Zuerich Tage fuer Neue Music, Paris Présence, Beethoven Festival Bonn, etc. His CD with premières by Mauricio Kagel (Winter&Winter) was awarded nine times, e.g. as CD of the year according to Wire, the "Choc"-label by Le Monde de la Musique and a "Diapason d´or". |
Luk Vaes gave lectures in and outside of Europe, wrote articles on 20th century music, designed and produced festivals in Gent, Den Bosch, Toronto, Chicago and New York, and was active as recording supervisor and editor for Mode Records and Sound Recording Center Steurbaut. Besides giving his own master classes (e.g. in Vienna, Zürich, San Diego, Sienna), he has also been active as accompanist to e.g. André Gertler an Thomas Quasthoff.
Public presentation of the research results on Extended Piano Techniques
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On February 25, 2010 at the Orpheus Institute, Luk Vaes presented an illustrated overview of the results that he obtained after thoroughly investigating the improper compositional use of the piano. |
During more than a decade, he examined the theoretical, historical and performance practical aspects of this subject through more than 15.000 pieces from the almost three centuries that the piano repertoire comprises. At the Orpheus Institute, Luk Vaes demonstrated the findings in the format of a lecture-recital, with solo and chamber music works for piano(forte), harpsichord and clavichord by - amongst others - Cl.B. Balbastre, L. van Beethoven, J. Haydn, Fr.W. Rust, Isr.G. Wernicke, C. Curtis-Smith en D. Mosconi.
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