Tiptoe Company is a new music ensemble and artistic collective that unites music with visual and performing arts. TC performed at various venues like Wien Modern, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent, de Singel Antwerpen, Festival Kortrijk, November Music (NL), MAFestival Brugge, Hnita Jazz Club, Transit Festival and Ryogoku Monten Hall (JP). TC concerts often have a strong ‘immersive’ aspect, where scenography and performance can be of equal importance to music. These aspects of TC’s identity are prepared in residencies provided by places like PactaSalone (IT), de Bijloke, WerkplaatsWalter, Q-o2, PostX (BE). Scenography or self-constructed ‘DIY’ instruments are potentially becoming independent musical installations that can be explored in an exhibition context or in public spaces. This is the case in ‘Fonetica’, a format that was developed in ’23 and is presented as an immersive concert (Festival Kortrijk, De Bijloke, PastaSalone), an interactive installation in collaboration with crip-singers of Anemoi/Wit.h (Museum Dr. Guislain), or a childrens playground (Spinrag Festival, Big Bang Festival). TC recorded music by Tim Mariën on Passacaille+.
History
TC was initially formed in Belgium in 2011 as an ensemble. In the first years TC united a small group of musicians playing a setup of ‘delicate’ instruments like the recorder, guitar, double bass, harp and cello. The aim was to create new music ‘on the edge of silence’. TC developed long and ongoing collaborations with composers like Maurizio Pisati (IT), Patricia Alessandrini (US) and Tim Mariën (BE), who also actively participated as performers in concerts. From the start TC concerts also strongly involved other musically interesting topics like historically informed practice, free improvisation, music theatre, visual art and scenography.
In 2019 TC started to collaborate more closely with visual artists like A. De Causmaecker and Ian Kesteleyn, turning the ensemble into an ‘artistic collective’. Since then, activities are no longer limited to the classical concert hall environment. Visual and theatrical aspects of a concert can become an equal counterpart of the musical performance. Meanwhile, the ensemble’s musicians have also become ‘house composers’ of the collective, fully emancipating the creative role of the performer in the creation process of a concert.
In the reality of the world of today, TC is creating ‘new music’ in the broadest sense of the term. Here, crossing the boundaries of established music styles or ‘niches’ has become an inevitable part of the collective’s identity. On the musical side this includes a continuous ‘specialisation in versatility’ by the involved musicians, who, apart from their original specialization in a western classical instrument, become also multi-instrumentalists, performers, improvisers and composers. On the – even broader – artistic side, more theatrical performances and installations that are an independent extension of the scenography of a concert are also a substantial part of TC’s work.
During the period 2016-2021 TC was supported as ‘ensemble in residence’ by ChampdAction. TC received subventions from ‘de Vlaamse Overheid’ during this period for some of their projects.