[Sinatra Concerto]

‘A matchless stylist of pop’, according to the New York times; ‘Hoboken has lost its voice’, wrote The Daily News; ‘Best singer of his generation’ read the headline in the LA Times. The newspapers ran out of superlatives when Frank Sinatra died on 14 May 1998 following a double heart attack.

Now, 25 years to the day following Sinatra’s death, artistic director Benjamin Haemhouts and musical polymath Jef Neve join forces for a shared passion project: the world premiere of a new piano concerto, presented by Neve and packed with motifs from the crooner’s rich back catalogue of hit songs. So don’t be surprised if you suddenly hear the refrains of ‘New York, New York’ or ‘The best is yet to come’ – feel free to just hum along! We will be pairing our new ode to the famous jazz singer with two other pieces that also draw on popular music genres: Dmitri Shostakovich’s dance-worthy Jazzsuite, and a concerto by composer Richard Rodney Bennett, that he dedicated in 1990 to the saxophone legend Stan Getz.