The Double Life of Anna Danilevskaia

Since January 1, Anna Danilevskaia has been directing the MA Festival Bruges, opening a new chapter for one of the historic gatherings of early music. There, she advocates for the coexistence of multiple interpretative “truths,” questions the notion of authenticity, and raises the issue of venues: what becomes of secular music when it is performed almost exclusively in churches? Between acoustic reflection, international openness (notably with the Juilliard School of New York), and shifts toward secular spaces, she envisions Bruges as a crossroads of possibilities. At the same time, the ensemble Sollazzo, founded in 2014, continues its development with La Flamboyance, an ambitious musical project recorded and to be released in May, bearing witness to an undiminished collective energy.

You are the artistic director of the MA Festival in Bruges, one of Europe’s major early music festivals. What will be your editorial approach?

Anna Danilevskaia: Artistically, this allows me to continue defending an idea that is very dear to me: the existence and validity of several points of view on the same repertoire. It is an idea I strive to convey through my ensemble Sollazzo: to show that different approaches can be compatible, that they can coexist, enter into dialogue, even contradict one another, without thereby canceling each other out. Within a festival context, this is both easier and more rewarding, because one can present the same musical field from truly different angles.

You also link this plurality of approaches to a central question in early music: authenticity.

A. D.: Yes, the idea of authenticity lies at the heart of early music, and it is approached in very different ways depending on the ensembles. It unites us and says something about our identity. However, there is one aspect that is often forgotten: we spend a large part of our lives performing secular music in sacred spaces… And that changes everything! We may make every possible effort—research, deepening interpretation, organological questions, instruments—but if we then place this music in an acoustic that does not suit it, we must change the way we play… In a way, part of those efforts is “reconfigured” by the venue. I would like to reflect on how to meet this challenge: how to couple acoustics with repertoire and, when that is not possible, to resort to creative, possibly technological, solutions.

Does that mean moving part of early music out of churches, toward secular venues?

A. D.: There will be some of that, yes, but I prefer not to be too specific, as it is still a long way off. There will also be an “acoustic” research axis: how to modify, use, possibly even incorporate a form of amplification. It is very controversial in early music, I know. But I think it could work for many projects and would allow us to maintain a style of playing that suits the repertoire, rather than having to adapt to a space that imposes its own rules.

Will the editorial line of the Bruges Festival change?

A. D.: Historically, it is a festival that has always managed to combine excellence and innovation, with a tradition of more than sixty years now. My predecessor,  Jan Van den Borre, greatly broadened the horizons by offering experimental performances and contemporary creation around early repertoires. What I wish to bring is a kaleidoscopic vision: to alternate strong, convincing proposals, but above all diverse ones within the same repertoire. I firmly believe that embracing musical diversity in its most subtle nuances is, in a way, calling for diversity in society. How could we coexist with people totally different from ourselves if we cannot hear an ornament when it is interpreted differently from how we would have wished?

For 2027, you are starting with a blank page. Will you return to a “themed” festival?

A. D.: For several years now, there has been no theme in Bruges, and I find that very good. In the festival landscape, it is important to have festivals with themes, as this helps to advance research, spark new projects, and introduce audiences to new repertoires. It is just as important that some do not, because this allows musicians to show what they want to show, at the moment when their project is most alive. When a project is carried by a spark, or when artists feel they are proposing something personal, the absence of a theme makes it possible to catch the artist at the crest of the wave!