Global Wind Day 2023 – the Wind Symphony

On June 15, 2007 the European Wind Energy Association celebrated for the very first time the Global Wind Day. Today, 16 years later, Casco Phil performs the Wind Symphony. A symphony written by the wind via the wind turbines in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and a story that connects innovation, renewable energy, culture and… a group of enthusiast and dynamic people. All with a different background and interest, but with one common goal: let’s make this happen. The fruit of their efforts can be seen tonight (20.00hrs) on ATV’s website via this link: ATV l LIVE - Gazet van Antwerpen (gva.be)

This unique concept started back in 2019 while I was driving home on a windy day and had an open view on the wind turbines in our port, while listening to music. Sometime before I had learned that these wind turbines generate several data streams allowing the operating company to monitor anything you can think of: wind velocity, direction, temperature, vibrations, …?Being passionate about music and eager to explore new things, I wondered whether it was possible to feed these data streams into a synthesizer and to let nature take its course. An idea was born.

Not long thereafter I bumped coincidentally into #Ben Simons and David Daggelinckx of VLEEMO NV and #Wind Voor “A”, owners and operators of an ever growing number of wind turbines in our port. I pitched the idea and nearly immediately they both had twinkles in their eyes. They liked the idea and saw in it an opportunity to connect renewable energy in a non-classical way to the community. And it helped that David is a music afficionado too.

A couple of weeks later I had a meeting to discuss a potential project with staff members of Bozar. At the end of the meeting, I shared my idea with Luc Preaux and he introduced the three of us to Pieter Lembrechts , managing director of CASCO Phil , an a-typical orchestra, fearless of trying new things. The project team was born right before the world went in lockdown.

Fortunately, during that horrible period we managed to meet virtually and to further discuss how we could work with the generated data. Should we just connect the data to a music device and allow the wind to improvise? Or should we raise the bar and allow the wind to create something of a higher artistic value. And guess what we did? Peter Knockaert who has an eye for musical structures and Bart Ribbens who’s an engineer at the Antwerp University and a music lover too, joined the team. They analyzed the data and came up with technical insights and discovered patterns in the way the wind blows. And that’s not just any way. These patterns helped to structure and organize the wind symphony, with the underlying inspiration of the Greek mythological gods of the wind: Boreas (N), Euros (E), Notus (S) and Zephyrus (W).

The connecting power of the idea, the enthusiast reactions – sometimes a bit of disbelieve too – inspired the group to develop a campaign around the need for renewable energy. A teaching pack is under development and will be made available for schools, allowing teachers to share knowledge in an rather unexpected ?on one of the world’s most powerful modes of transportation and sources of renewable energy: the wind.

Having an idea is one thing, realizing it required the support of a whole group of interesting and inspiring people. A big shout out and thank you for their support and believe in the project. Thank you Annick De Ridder , Nabilla Ait Daoud , Erica Caluwaerts , Tom Meeuws . Jacques Vandermeiren and Port of Antwerp-Bruges Thank you Ben Simons. Thank you David Daggelinckx. Without your support and perseverance this symphony wouldn’t have been created and played by the fantastic musicians of Casco Phil, conducted by Benjamin Haemhouts , produced by Pieter Lembrechts, vocally elevated by soprano Elise Caluwaerts and narrated by @Frank Deboosere.

The live performance of the concert was last night, on the eve of the Global Wind Day 2023 and seats where limited. Fortunately the crew of ATV (local tv channel) was willing to capture it and agreed to broadcast it tonight. A big thank you to Bieke Ilegems for being the perfect host and to Hans Hellemans for sharing this with a wider public. Also people outside of the Antwerp area that are interested and curious to hear and see the Wind Symphony, can tune in via this link, at 20.00hrs, CET. Hope you’ll enjoy it too. ATV l LIVE - Gazet van Antwerpen (gva.be)

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