Culture beat – July 11

Apart from the lingering damp weather, what’s not to like about Brosella Folk and Jazz this weekend? The totally free event is family-friendly and within city limits. Saturday’s programme is devoted to folk, Sunday’s jazz with Fabrice Allman, Omar Sousa Quarteto Afrocubano, Bert Cools, Jef Neve & Myrdinn, Karim Baggli, and Kenny Garrett, all putting in an appearance. Festival home is the leafy setting of Théâtre de Verdure at the foot of the Atomium in Heysel. The 38th edition includes a kids’ programme with theatre, music and workshops, on both days.

Another permanent fixture on the summer calendar is Festival Midi-Minimes, the captial’s series of bite-sized classical concerts every day of the week at the Royal Conservatory, Rue de la Régence, until August 29. Monday’s concerts have been revisited as ‘open music’, Tuesday is early sounds, Wednesday 18th century, while Thursday and Friday encompass 19th and 20th century music. From July 14 to 18, the week is devoted to the piano and there is also a week of string quartet music programmed. Each concert is €5 and a pass is available for multiple concerts. Reservations not possible. There’s a replica event in Leuven, Zomer van Sint-Peter, which repeats all the concerts.

Irish singer and guitarist Karen McHugh performs live at l’Imaige Nostre-Dame this evening (Friday) at 21.00. The Brussels bar is tucked in an alleyway off  Rue du Marché-aux-Herbes, near the Grand‘Place.

If the rain does hold off, it’s long-awaited party time at Les Jardins Suspendu , the place for an altitude aperitif from Saturday (July 12) until mid-September. The rooftop party is every Saturday evening at Parking 58 near the Bourse. Saturday’s after-party is at M Wong.

There’s alternative Saturday night entertainment at 86, Chaussée du Louvain, from 21.00-02.00, in a celebration of the dismantling of Arne Quinze’s massive artwork ‘The Sequence’. The street party includes a sound and light show, in the presence of the Flemish artist.

The Royal Park Music Festival is at mid-point, with concerts scheduled on Sundays, July 13 & 27. As the name suggests, the festival is hosted in one of Brussels’ oldest and best-known public spaces, the Royal Park. This Sunday’s schedule includes laughing Bastards at 11.00, and Fanfare de proper at 14.30. Performances take place in the park’s musical kiosk, built by 19th-century Belgian architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar with open-air acoustics in mind.

Outside Brussels

For the first time, the annual outdoor theatre show at Villers-la-Ville Abbey is offering a family show from July 15 to August 9 at 21.00. But Pinocchio,( eight years and up), is no Disney production. This adaptation by Patrick de Longrée is closer to the original and darker story by Carlo Collodi as the wooden puppet boy goes in search of adventure. Stephen Shank directs. Each year the Cistersian abbey is the backdrop for a dramatic spectacle, staged in different parts of the imposing ruins. It’s an impressive experience.

If you’re venturing further south into Luxembourg province, check out this new free event at the Château de Recogne, near Bastogne. Using projection-mapping, the history of the region is revisited every night in a sound and light show, using the castle walls as a canvas. The nearby Village du Forêt has bars and chalets to sample local produce. From July 18 to August 17.