The Modern Classical movement makes its debut at the OPRL with Max Richter’s Exiles.

Beginning with its 2025–26 season, the OPRL has chosen to introduce a new concert series dedicated to ‘Modern Classical’ music, in order to embrace a major artistic movement now firmly established within the contemporary musical landscape.

Emerging in the 1970s, this movement revisits the classical language and orchestral instruments — often granting the piano (or keyboards) a central role — while drawing on influences from ambient, electronic, minimalist, and experimental music.

Its writing, frequently introspective and pared down, is rooted in emotion, silence, and slowness. Modern Classical responds to a deeply contemporary need: to slow down, to listen, to feel. It is primarily an instrumental and contemplative music, shaped by the richness of sonic textures, rhythmic or melodic repetition, and offering an intimate experience — poised between tradition and modernity, between scholarly composition, expressive simplicity, and sensory accessibility.

One hears within it the legacy of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, key figures of American minimalism, as well as that of Erik Satie, Arvo Pärt, and Brian Eno."

A work inspired by the migrations of our time

Among the most emblematic composers of the genre are Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm, and, of course, Max Richter, whose extraordinary Exiles opens the OPRL’s new series. Originally composed as a ballet for the Nederlands Dans Theater, this deeply engaged work draws inspiration from forced migrations and contemporary humanitarian crises. Built on a repetitive piano motif, the piece gradually unfolds toward a powerful climax through increasingly rich orchestral textures, symbolizing the journey of exiles, the search for refuge, and the hope for a better future.

Estonian-American conductor Kristjan Järvi, who recorded Exiles for Deutsche Grammophon in 2019, pays tribute to the composer (who will not be present in Liège!) while creating a dialogue between this poignant music, other works by Richter, and his own compositions. Together with the musicians of the OPRL, he explores new sonic territories and breaks conventional musical boundaries.

Echo Collective and Elori Saxl

During the 2025–26 season, the “Modern Classical” series will continue to explore ensembles and composers who are reinventing classical music, with two highly anticipated concerts.

On Saturday, 15 November at 8:00 p.m., the OPRL will welcome the ensemble Echo Collective, founded in 2012, which combines the rigorous classical training of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with contemporary musical influences. The group will present the hypnotic soundscapes of their album Mirror Image (2024), while paying homage to the melancholy of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson through a suite inspired by the German abstract painter Thilo Heinzmann (12 Conversations, 2019, Deutsche Grammophon).

Later in the season, on Saturday, 31 January at 8:00 p.m., New York–based composer Elori Saxl, now residing in Brooklyn, will bring her unique universe to the Philharmonic Hall, at the crossroads of minimalism and jazz, reinterpreted from a fresh classical perspective. Her distinctive sonic and melodic language perfectly embodies the spirit of the “Modern Classical” series.