Claude Debussy was an unparalleled master of the suggestion. With La mer, he gave us an exact portrait of the sea, using broad brushstrokes to evoke it: fleeting, drifting – clouds, water and wind, a blur or a swirl. You can almost taste the salt on your lips, feel the brooding storm through the suggestive drumroll or single drumbeat in the timpani.

The musical colours of Debussy inspired Thierry De Mey in several dance films with live orchestra. In Prélude à la mer, he contrasts the choreography of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker with the hard reality of a catastrophe: the vanishing of the Aral Sea. Specially for this concert, De Mey created a brand new film to accompany La mer.

Discover this concert on Podium 19.

This event is broadcasted on Podium 19, a new and free culture channel that you can watch on

• Proximus Pickx (channel 19 in Flanders, channel 269 in Brussels & Wallonie)
• Telenet TV (channel 99)
• Orange TV (channel 20)
• the VRT NU website and app

Podium 19 offers virtual performances and concerts from the Flemish culture houses. More info at www.podium19.be.

concert recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge on 13 February, 2021
in collaboration with Evil Penguin TV
with the support of the Belgian Tax Shelter and Belga Films Fund