BELLS ECHO IIIIINTERIIIIM - Ellen Arkbro & Lukas De Clerck - 15.05.2026 - Evangelisch Reformierte Kirche zu Leipzig

In the organizer's words:

BELLS ECHO has been an integral part of Leipzig's experimental music scene for over 10 years and is known for its unique fusion of space, sound and visual elements. In the beginning, the idea was to bring experimental music by local artists, which otherwise only reaches small niches, into large spaces. The BELLS ECHO group's zest for action soon led them to develop and realize their own compositions, such as 2015-2019 with a choir. In addition, there was a desire to invite renowned artists who might never perform in Leipzig to the city's special venues - including for the upcoming concert:

On May 15, 2026, Ellen Arkbro and Lukas De Clerck will play with static sounds and moving introspection in the minimalist, warm white interior of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Leipzig.

Change in constancy

"A booming room, a vibrating body of performers and recipients, sweating, protruding veins, infinite slowness. The name of this music was Dream Music." Writes Diedrich Diederichsen (quoted from the 2008 volume: Kritik des Auges. Texte zur Kunst) on the genesis of minimalism. This description is essentially based on the self-image of the influential American music group Theatre of Eternal Music or The Dream Syndicate from the 1960s. This group included artists such as La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, John Cale (The Velvet Underground), Tony Conrad and Terry Riley. The composer, musician and sound artist Ellen Arkbro took lessons from the first two in order to familiarize herself with their impulses and think ahead in her own unique way. Arkbro's reduced, static sounds open up an uncanny expanse the longer you listen to them. Indulgent textures change with restrained movements that occasionally discharge into friction. Arkbro's sound experiments are captivating, atmospheric and dreamlike. Her most recent release "Nightclouds" (2025), for example, is inspired by sacred music on the one hand and creates very fine listening experiences with the powerful instrument, the organ, on the other. Although her concert is also an ephemeral experience, the profound impression her music leaves behind makes it elusive.

Before Ellen Arkbro casts her spell over us, Lukas De Clerck introduces us to the soundscapes of the aulos: The ancient Greek reed instrument has not existed for over a millennium - at least until the Belgian musician and sound artist dedicated himself to recreating it. With his contemporary knowledge and his desire to experiment, he creates music that has never existed before. At first he elicits a mystical, dark drone from the aulos, which condenses into an ocean of sound with increasing duration. Gradually, the melody thins out, the whistling tones overlap and rub against each other, which is so beguiling that you can almost hear voices. This is where De Clerck picks up and uses folkloristic melodies to create soundscapes of unimagined grandeur. The album "The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas", which was released in 2024 on Stephen O'Malley's label Ideologic Organ, gives an impression of this.

In addition, a spatial concept will be developed especially for the evening, with which the impressions of light, sound and church architecture dissolve into one another.

Presented by Bytefm, Frohfroh and Gangart.

The event is supported by the Musikfonds and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Price information:

plus fees