Building bridges between different worlds has been Daniel Verstappen’s mindset for quite a while. Always aware of new sources of inspiration crossing his path, The pianist and composer clearly has found a new one in the «silhouettes» of designer Katerin Theys.
At his latest Castle concert at Alden Biesen Belgium last Sunday (September 7th) he improvised live 🎹to pay tribute to her creations🥻👘
The designer, based in Belgium as well as Hong Kong, and the maestro’s first collaboration goes back to earlier this year when Daniel was touring through Japan and South Korea, while wearing her designs on stage.
Also starring last Sunday at Alden Biesen 🏰: the amazing soprano Janine Kitzen and the one and only Marina Barskaya and her inseperable fiddle 🎻🎼.
Congratulations are in order once again!
We gladly share some more images of ArtistCongratz proudly presenting all this extraordinary talent…
All on stage (including your presenter;)) wore Katerin’s silhouettes, as the designer herself likes to call them. (See pics below)
All ears & eyes on a fiddle fairy 🎻 Marina Barskaya Along with Daniel she made classic pieces and iconic movie soundtracks composed by Hans Zimmer and Karl Jenkins among others come to life.Daniels latest musical bridge leads to Janine Kitzen, a well known soprano from The Netherlands who has also performed alongside André Rieu. 🎶🎶More live performances of Daniel Verstappen & Guests coming 🆙 👉Check all dates on http://www.danielverstappen.com
ArtistCongratz presenting live at the Castle 🏰
Care to read even more about Daniels performances at the World Expo in Japan ? Please check out my article in BJA magazine ⤵️
Some time ago I blogged about a particular singer-songwriter-by the-sea🌊. One who manages to “marry” his “native language” to the ones of the audience he’s playing for. On his new (fifth) album, he even presents a song exactly about that. However, this native language he’s singing and writing in, sounds so appealing it might as well be…(y)ours and by all means all “citizens of the world”
ArtistCongratz also likes to refer to it as the juiciest form of “Western Flemish” 🤠 totally in line with the undeniable wit of… Augustijn Vermandere, fellow citizen of the world 🌎 🎶, paying tribute to the universal power of music, which we all can use even more in present times 🎁
En/Of was presented in his hometown Ostend at city’s concerthall De Grote Post. The title of the album means a lot more than its literal translation: And/Or. How about “For Sure, we want this universal tribute to music coming through our earplugs & headphones all over the planet🎧 !”
See, listen and discover for yourselves how Augustijn manages to captivate his audience, becoming more and more smitten with his catchy lyrics, tunes and…very own language 🎶⤵️
En/of, translation: and/or is the Fifth album for Augustijn. He can sing in whatever language and still sound extremely universal; as «Western Flemish» by the North Sea should be of course 🌊💿
33318 trade visitors in just four days, taking part in over 500 events.
Curated by BCBF and its 1,577 exhibitors from approximately 95 countries.
Covered by journalists from over 40 countries. ArtistCongratz 🇧🇪being one, took part for the first time. While blogging; accompanying, spotting and matching fine young talented illustrators and authors on their journey towards discovery💡✍️
📖🖼️🇧🇪🇸🇦 the only way, look 🆙 😉 Belgium meets Saudi Arabia at Bologna’s Children’s Bookfair 2025
So far some impressions, facts and figures of the 62nd Bologna Fiere in a nutshell.
Care for more sneak peeks of our own journey as Bologna Fair Firsttimers?
Keep up the viewing ⤵️
Nice meeting Hooria from Germany/Iran (on the left in the picture). She is studying educational science, working on a dentist project to be illustrated for kids AND parents. This was at the PublisHer Booth network event on Wednesday, while she’s watching drawings from Lauren, a young emerging Belgian illustrator who’s latest publication “Nachtraafmeisje” (author Gitta Van Lommel) was highlighted at the Fiere by Belgian Publisher Clavis ⤵️Find out more about Lauren’s impressive work as an illustrator ➡️https://www.laurenpletinckx.comLauren Pletinckx, Belgian illustrator of “Nachtraafmeisje” written by Belgian author Gitta Van Lommel, published by ClavisHarper Collins, one of the biggest international bookpublishers world wide, of course also present in Bologna
Presenting this year’s Guest of Honour Country: Estonia 🇪🇪Nice booktalks in English & “un poco Italiano” over Dolce 🧁 & Espresso ☕️ at PublisHer Booth on Wednesday morning 👌How about a story totally written in a fictitious language ?Belgian and internationally renowned author Wally De Doncker taking a look at Lauren’s portfolio 🖼️🖌️Thank you for recognizing and encouraging young illustrating talent !
“Building new professional relationships”
ArtistCongratz is definitely on the same networking page as Antonio Bruzzone, General Director of BolognaFiere, who looks back on this 62nd extraordinary edition as a fair that continues to grow in participation and quality.
The success of the exhibitor numbers from all over the world is the result of the scouting work that the fair carries out, a constant and global commitment: being present worldwide, all year round, is essential to understand the trends of markets, including emerging ones, and to build new relationships.
Antonio Bruzzone General Director of BolognaFiere
Antonio Bruzzone: We are also honoured to continue our collaboration with the United Nations, a prestigious partner with whom we share a commitment to sustainability, both in editorial content and in industrial processes, a theme that is increasingly crucial for the future of publishing and beyond.
Among new participating countries this year Albania, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Iceland, Madagascar, Malta, North Macedonia, Peru, Sri Lanka (Thailand) and Saudi Arabia, where ArtistCongratz received a warm welcome 📸 while promoting the work of Belgian emerging illustrator Lauren Pletinckx The fair confirms itself as the most important global stage for the exchange of rights and copyrights in the children’s and young adult sector, promoting content that develops throughout the entire book chain and beyond ⤵️
From scouting new talents to seeking new voices in emerging publishing markets. Additionally, among the main novelties of this edition was the new Games Business Centre – in collaboration with Frankfurter Buchmesse and created with Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids – which joined the second edition of the TV/Film Rights Centre, completing Bologna’s book-to-screen offering: a success with over 600 meetings held between publishers and professionals from the gaming and audiovisual industries.
The theme of sustainability was at the heart of the debate, through renewed collaboration with the United Nations and a focus this year also on the sustainability of publishing industry processes, in a meeting curated together with BBPlus, the space dedicated to general publishing that completes the fair’s editorial offering.
BolognaBookPlus 2025 was sold out with a waiting list for the first time. Rights were traded among the 56 participating countries. With an AI Summit run with Shimmr, an Audio Forum and a multitude of seminars featuring industry leading.
Along with the Fiere more than 100 underground events were organised by exhibitors at the exhibition centre and around the city. Four days of the event during which Bologna becomes the global capital of children’s publishing every year. But the fair is also international in terms of digital presence and media coverage, with over 2 million pageviews from more than 180 countries.
The 63rd edition of Bologna Children’s Book Fair, along with BolognaBookPlus and Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids, is expected to take place at BolognaFiere from April 13 to 16, 2026, with Norway as the Guest of Honour Country.
BolognaFiere 2025 (31.03-03.04) is organized by BolognaBookPlus (BBPlus) – in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association and Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids (BLTF/Kids).Our Aftermovie entitled: “Rockin’ it at BCBF 🇮🇹” 📺🎞️
And please do so in favour of a small country with a smooth seaside up north, ancient cities to discover and a great voice coming from the middle.
Is there a chance that Jérémie Makiese, our charming contestant this year follows in Måneskins footsteps?
Here are five reasons why you should vote for Belgium🇧🇪
Welcome to Belgium 🇧🇪🎶📺 (Atomium (c) Sofam)
1. It’s been a while since our last and one and only victory #1986 #j’aimelavie #sandrakim
2. Belgians are the biggest Måneskinfans worldwide 🇮🇹😋 “ Rock’n roll never dies!”
3. Millenniumbaby Jérémie Makiése is a born winner. He’s one of the most talented artists of “The Voice Belgique”, following stars like Loic Nottet and Blanche🇧🇪(remember her scoring many points in Kyiv (2017) with her innovative popsong City Lights🎵)
4. Not only does Jeremie perform his summerhit-in-the-making like a pro. He also wrote “Miss You” himself, along with co-composers Silvio Lisbonne and Manon Romiti.
5. Brussels is a fine Capital with capital C to host the contest in 2023🎶 📺🎵👍
It’s all in your hands dear Eurovisioners!🙌
Jeremie in full Eurovisionmode during the second final just last Thursday
Andiamo a Roma l’anno prossimo, cittá natale di Damiano David, leadsinger of Måneskin.
A powerful message
Many decades after Gigliola Cinquetti, Toto Cutugno and some close calls; remember “Gente di mare” (Umberto Tozzi & Raf) and the late Franco Battiato who sang “I treni di Tozeur”!along with Alice, Italy managed to win over the hearts of the European public in Rotterdam for the third time in history.
« Clean and powerful with only one message which is the band » creative director Claudio Santucci explained early on in the competition.
Måneskin’s glam rock song “Zitti e buoni” and their rough-around-the-edges-performance seemed to be the perfect cocktail for this pleasantly disturbed bunch to win over European voters.
“Zitti e buoni” basically means “Be good and quiet” and is part of the bands’ new record “Teatro D’Ira”.
The message of the song goes deeper explained singer Damiano David during a press conference:
“Just be yourselves, express yourselves and don’t pay any attention to negative comments.”
Hear hear! Senti senti!Congratulazoni “rocce azurri”; “Rock’n roll never dies” indeed🎸
Måneskin (Danish for moonlight)= Damiano David (vocals) Victoria de Angelis (bass) Thomas Raggio (guitar) & Ethan Torchio (drums)
Shaping a space program? Heaven on art. My admiration never had limits when it comes to Astronauts. Capital A Artists of space and science.
No magic kingdom compares to my NASA visit back in 2017. As close to space as it gets (so far ;)) Yesterdays launch sure brought back some great flashbacks.
So CongratZ to the Artists of Space and science. Yesterday a new chapter in universal history unfolded, written in the stars.
Inside Kennedy Space Center 2017: Flash forward to Falcon 🚀 x Of Course I Still Love You ❤️
ArtistCongratz 