The Colorist Orchestra

The Colorist Orchestra, formed in 2013, is an unusual pop/chamber music collective founded and led by Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans. The fundamental idea is to rearrange the repertoire of an invited singer-songwriter. The unorthodox use of classical instruments in combination with a variety of musical objects is the foundation of The Colorist’s sound. Inspired by the works of Harry Partch, Moondog, Kronos Quartet, Talking Heads and Steve Reich a.o., songs are 're-colored' resulting in an 'acoustic live remix’ or ‘an inverse Karaoke’. The eight-piece outfit is characterized by its members: Kobe Proesmans (percussion, calabash), Aarich Jespers (percussion, flapamba), Sep François (melodic percussion, hammered mbar), Wim De Busser (grand piano, prepared piano, keys), Tim Vandenbergh (double bass, electric bass), Gerrit Valckenaers (bass clarinet, stones, mirrors, glass bowls, electronics), Jeroen Baert (violin), Karel Coninx (viola). With an array of different sounding objects as the red line through every collaboration, the Colorist Orchestra defines its way of recoloring while searching for the thin line between pop, classical and underground music. The Colorist Orchestra have had the honor of working live with: * Sumie (2014) * Cibelle (2014) * Emilíana Torrini (2015) * Lisa Hannigan (2017) In 2019 TCO works on a collaboration with Howe Gelb.