Lieven Bertels (born 1971) is a Belgian musicologist, curator and impresario.
Education and early career
Born in Hasselt, Bertels received a master's degree in musicology from the University of Leuven (Belgium), followed by a master's degree in Production and Composition from Durham University - Collingwood College (UK). He subsequently engaged in PhD research on Mimesis in Music Recording at Surrey University (UK), whilst working as a
Tonmeister
Tonmeister is most often found as a job description in the music and recording industries. It describes a person who is a sound master (a literal translation of the German word): a person who creates recordings or broadcasts of music who is both d ...
and record producer.
RITCS Film, Radio and TV School
From 1994, Bertels started lecturing at the RITCS (then RITS) Film, Radio and TV School in Brussels, teaching subjects including audio technology, music recording, audio art, sound for animation movies and acoustics. He continued to teach at RITCS until his departure to Australia in 2011
VRT and Concertgebouw Brugge
Since 1998 Bertels worked as a researcher and a producer for Belgian national broadcaster VRT, both for the cultural TV Channel Canvas and for Cultural radio channel Klara (formerly Radio 3). In 2001 Bertels was invited to become the first artistic director of the Concertgebouw Brugge (
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population.
The area of the whole city a ...
, Belgium), a new multi-room arts venue purpose-built for Bruges 2002 European Capital of Culture. Bertels' programming was noticed for its eclectic mix of genres and artists, which pushed the Concertgebouw on the international stage with coproductions including
Heiner Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge ...
.
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...
and
Warp
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Arts and entertainment Books and comics
* WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher
* ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!''
* Warp (comics), a ...
Holland Festival
The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archit ...
as artistic coordinator under festival director
Pierre Audi
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Early life
Audi is the son of the Lebanese banker Raymond Audi and Andrée Michel Fattal, the eldest of three children.Anohni,
John Baldessari
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Initially a painter ...
,
Laurie Anderson
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and
Mike Patton
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. From 2010 to 2016 Lieven Bertels served on the board of directors of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) in New York.
Sydney Festival and Leeuwarden 2018
From 2012 to 2016 Bertels was the Festival Director at Sydney Festival, the largest arts festival in the southern hemisphere. His tenure brought a return to large-scale open-air installations including
Florentijn Hofman
Florentijn Hofman (born 16 April 1977) is a Dutch artist who creates playful urban installations like the ''Rubber Duck'' and the ''HippopoThames'', a 2014 installation on the River Thames in London.
Life and career
Hofman was born on 16 Ap ...
's Giant Rubber Duck or
Jeremy Deller
Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through th ...
's Sacrilege, alongside an expanded festival village in Sydney's Hyde Park which included
Spiegeltent
A spiegeltent (Dutch for "mirror tent", from '' spiegel''+''tent'') is a large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue. Originally built in Belgium during ...
s and outdoor entertainment. His performing arts program included opera, contemporary dance and theatre and indie music from around the globe with artists including Rokia Traore,
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
,
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007.
Biograph ...
Gotye
Wouter André "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), better known by his stage name Gotye ( ), is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. The name "Gotye" is a pronunciation respelling of "Gauthier", the French cognat ...
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (k ...
. Over his four-year tenure, Bertels turned the festival from annual financial losses to a budgetary surplus. In 2015 Bertels joined the team of Leeuwarden Fryslan 2018 European Capital of Culture in the Northern-Dutch province of
Friesland
Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
as Cultural Director. From 2016 he became the CEO of the organisation.
The Momentary, Arkansas
From 2017-2021, Bertels was the inaugural director of The Momentary, an arts space in
Bentonville, Arkansas
Bentonville is the tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace of and world headquarters locatio ...
that is a satellite to the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission.
Overview ...
.
Awards and distinctions
Lieven Bertels was appointed Knight of the Order of the Crown in 2013.http://www.ispa.org/news/127622/Lieven-Bertels-made-Knight-in-Order-of-the-Crown.htm Lieven Bertels Made Knight in the Order of the Crown In 2016 he was shortlisted for the
Christophe Plantin Prize
The Christophe Plantin Prize ('' French: Prix Christoffel Plantin''), is a Belgian civilian prize, intended to reward a Belgian citizen who resides abroad, who has made significant contributions to cultural, artistic or scientific activities.
Nam ...