Ghent, Belgium: Europe and the Arabs

From 16 to 30 September, Music will fill all corners of Ghent during the 66th edition of the Ghent Festival of Flanders, organisers announced Wednesday. This year's theme represents how music can connect and cross borders, aptly named The Other Side.
The event aims to unite people by removing boundaries and letting music be the common bond. “Music connects us all, and yet we can't grasp it. That intangible guides us to The Other Side, to the transcendent or the spiritual," explains festival director Veerle Simons. According to what was published by the Belgian news agency

"We will turn the city into a large concert hall"
 
Ghent will call on all locations in the city to be a stage for music. Not only theatres, but churches and monasteries, gardens, and other hidden corners. "We will turn the city into a large concert hall," says Simmons.
This year's programme will cover music, theatre, dance, and innovative art experiences. With almost 200 concerts and 50,000 visitors annually, the Ghent Festival of Flanders is the largest festival of its kind in the region.
In a world premiere by Belgian composer Frank Nuyts, the festival provides the perfect setting for a collaboration between several revered Belgian institutions and the Dutch ensemble Asko|Schönberg. The chamber opera called Cambio madre per moto will showcase the members of Muziektheater Transparant, ​ soloists of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, musical direction by Benjamin Haemhouts and stage direction by the young Belgian director Aïda Gabriëls.
Nacht van de Verbeelding (Night of Imagination) is an exciting series of events that will take place at the Museum for Fine Arts, the Ghent University Museum and the City Museum Of Contemporary Art. Here, there are no rules of what art can and cannot be and how that relates to music. Visitors will experience the creative genius of musicians, dancers, writers, painters, philosophers and scientists as they combine their areas of expertise to create unforgettable sights and sounds. Some examples include a piano that generates images, a ballet dancer who paints while dancing, DJ sets with music by Beethoven and more.
From Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21, the adventurous visitor can venture into Wandelaars in an immersive excursion piece led by word artist Wim Helsen in collaboration with actor and singer Roy Aernouts. They will first wander through the city of Ghent and eventually set up tents in theatre Tinnenpot for a week in an event that has yet to be revealed to the public.
The festival will culminate fittingly with Fauré's Requiem, where Alejo Pérez will conduct the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) Orchestra and Chorus in the Sint-Baafskathedraal.
Music speaks all languages and includes all cultures
Aside from the surprising and whimsical performance locations, the aspects that make this festival exceptional are the combination of strongholds in the Belgian cultural sector combined with international talent. Performers from OBV, Muziektheater Transparant, and the highly prestigious Queen Elisabeth Chapel will merge their mastery with visiting musicians such as Japanese pianist Gen Tomuro, traditional Balkan music bands, and tango artists. This combination embodies the idea that the festival hopes to promote: that music speaks all languages and includes all cultures.