6. ENGLISH
CARPE DIEM!
Welcome to our site to get some information about our ensemble and concerts! Most of the events take place in Brussels (Belgium).
Carpe Diem consists of two Belgian musicians who are passionate about early music, and in particular about baroque music: Pascal Ormancey and Thomas Van Wetteren. They both play several instruments and they want to explore together the unrecognized part of the baroque repertoire.
Pascal plays a dozen of instruments: cello, cello piccolo, viole da gamba (high treble and bass viols), lutes (renaissance, baroque, and archlute), theorbo, baroque guitar, medieval fiddle, harpsichord, renaissance harp...
His cello dates back to about 1760.
Thomas plays: baroque violin, baroque viola, viola d'amore, chincello. He also travels, especially in Europe, to find forgotten music scores in libraries. He has edited and published the works of a forgotten German composer: Johann Martin Dömming.
We hope to meet you soon!
Pascal and Thomas
Contact: p.ormancey@gmail.com
The Musicians:
Pascal Ormancey started with the cello before he was 5 at the music school. He can now play a dozen of instruments. For most instruments, he is a self-taught musician but he also attended Master Classes in Early music. He founded the ensemble ‘Carpe Diem!' and organizes baroque concerts regularly.
Thomas Van Wetteren plays: baroque violin, baroque viola, viola d'amore, and chincello. He was member of the following orchestras: L’Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes de Bruxelles and Bruocsela Symphony Orchestra. He also travels, especially in Europe, to find forgotten music scores in libraries. He has edited and published the works of a forgotten German composer: Johann Martin Dömming.
CV PASCAL ORMANCEY
Pascal Ormancey was born in 1983 and began studying the cello at the age of four and a half with the Susuki method at the academy of Berchem Ste-Agathe with Sylvie Mariage. He follows the whole musical journey there. His family loves the arts: his father Michel is a painter, his mother loves dance and his sister theater. As a teenager, he also composed several pieces for one and two instruments and has now resumed contemporary composition for old instruments in search of new tones and colours. At around 17, he developed a passion for the viola da gamba but he had to wait until he was 23 before having his own, which he first learned by himself, then in private lessons or masterclasses (with: Francine Berckmans, Thomas Baeté, Marion Middenway, Susie Napper, Vittorio Ghielmi, Philippe Pierlot, Vincent Dumestre ...). Then, he is interested in the theorbo which he also learns as an autodidact. His number of instruments has continued to grow to reach a dozen: baroque cellos with 4 and 5 strings, bass viol and pardessus de viole, renaissance and baroque lutes, archlute, theorbo, baroque guitar, harpsichord, renaissance harp, bagpipe, medieval fiddle, medieval dulcimer... and even vocals (tenor). His cello dates from the middle of the 18th century. He is invited to perform in numerous concerts or organizes some with his friends in concert halls, churches, senior citizens' residences, exhibitions, etc. He regularly gave early music lessons at the 'Seminary of rare instruments and music' in Farnières where, in 2017, he presented the baroque lute as a rare instrument.
Eclectic, he also gives conjuring shows and has a bachelor's degree in classical languages and literatures as well as having a master's degree in Germanic languages and literatures. His final thesis also brings together three passions: Latin, English and baroque music. It focused on the music / text relationship in the opera 'Dido and Aeneas' by Henry Purcell.
CV THOMAS VAN WETTEREN
Thomas Van Wetteren first completed his violin study with Colette Haumont at the music school in Anderlecht. Before starting there the viola with Danielle Vandenbergh. He played the violin at the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes de Bruxelles and the viola at the Bruocsela Symphony Orchestra. Afterwards, Thomas approached the baroque repertoire looking for rare music scores in European libraries. He now plays the baroque violin and viola, the bass violin and the viola d’amore. He had classes with Benoît Douchy, Stéphanie de Failly and Marie Haag. After five years of work, he restored the complete works by Johann Martin Dömming (1705-ca. 1760) -see Wikipedia for a French and a German article. He has now completed the publication of the works of the Belgian baroque composer Henri-Jacques De Croes (1705-1786). He is the founder of the Belgian Association of the Early Viola d’amore.
He also has a diploma in primary school teaching and is active in the railway patrimony and gives lectures. He wrote and published a book about vicinal tramways in Charleroi.
Dömming Project
Thomas Van Wetteren is used to travelling to find forgotten music in libraries. After more than five years of work, Thomas Van Wetteren has now finished the restoration and edition of a forgotten composer: JOHANN MARTIN DÖMMING (1703-c.1760). The 'Duo Anonymus has given a concert with 9 musicians exploring this composer (23/02/14).
The scores were full of mistakes and in separate parts, making a performance impossible. Amendments to the sources were necessary. Undoubtedly, the material was set up with hasty assembled copies sent to the court archives that have never been put on a stand. Dömming is especially interesting because he composed for unusual solo instruments at the time: the baroque viola, the oboe d’amore, and the cello piccolo. There is even a very original concerto for two solo instruments playing together: a cello piccolo (5 string-cello) and a standard cello. Apart from strings, there is also a variety of instruments in the concerti: horn, oboe d’amore, flute… Dömming’s music is very dynamic and melodic and is then a good synthesis between the past and the future, between Vivaldi and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Dömming Reference Dates:
-30 September 1703 : Johann Martin Dömming was born is Milz (Thuringia).
-24 November 1731: he was officially hired by Moritz Casimir von Bentheim-Tecklenburg as ‘Directore Musices’. The act mentions that the musician already worked as an administrator (Küchenschreiber).
-1701-1768: Count Moritz Casimir reigned from 1710 over approximately 1600 inhabitants. The court Stayed at Hohenlimburg fort, close to Hagen/Westfalen. The count had studied law and fine arts in the Netherlands. He was passionate about music and collected scores and played the flute and the cello. Despite high taxes paid to Berlin. The county experienced a prosperous period. One hour of music was played every day. All the staff that was able to sing or to play an instrument contributed to the daily concert.
-1750: catalog of the music collection was started. 32 pieces by Dömming out of 93 survived the wars and have stood the test of time.
-1750: this last date appears in ‘Jagd Cantata’. We have not trace of the composer afterwards.
Past Concerts:
https://sites.google.com/site/pascalormanceymusique/concerts-deja-donnes
Next Concerts:
https://sites.google.com/site/pascalormanceymusique/home/concert-24-02
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVy-n1sOrpS13tN3B4kt8A
NB: Thomas' viola d'amore site: ABVA (google.com)
NB: My father's painting site (Michel Ormancey) : sites.google.com/site/michelormanceyartistepeintre