Arne Deforce
is renowned for his passionate and unparalleled performances of contemporary and experimental music. His inventive programmes explore new musical forms of expression in which the discovery of the 'Other' of the cello and the act of an uninhibited creative listening is foremost.

As a musician and researcher, he is fascinated by how, at the intersection between music, art, science and technology, new concepts and relationships in music can be developed between the instrument, musical gesture and electronics. As such, his collaboration on life-form (2012), a one-hour cycle by Richard Barrett for cello and electronics, or on the piece Foris (2012) by Raphaël Cendo, reflects the fact that a sound-world of untapped potential between the physicality of playing, technology and extended notations can further be developed in a collaborative project between composer and performer. As such he is currently working together with the Catalan composer Hèctor Parra, a great admirer of new cosmological models of quantum physics, and sound engineer Thomas Goepfer, on a new grand cycle for cello and electronics (Ruhrtriennale 2017) inspired by the theory of ‘superstrings', gravity waves and black holes as described by the French physicist Jean-Pierre Luminet.

His repertoire is focused mainly on solo and chamber music, with a special interest in works by composers such as Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey and Karlheinz Stockhausen. His fascinating, energetic and imaginative approach to music has inspired many composers including Richard Barrett, Luc Brewaeys, Kee-Yong Chong, Raphaël Cendo, Hèctor Parra, Alvin Curran and Phill Niblock, to collaborate or to write original works especially for him. In 2004, after one such collaboration, Jonathan Harvey described Arne Deforce as “one of the most exciting new cellists I have come across. Everything he plays is approached with a powerful intensity born from an engagement with the music on a deep spiritual and psychic level. He is highly imaginative and brings an originality and, above all, creativity to his interpretations which is both fiery and structured.”

His collaborative partners include musicians such as Daan Vandewalle, Mika Vaino, Richard Barrett, Peter Jacquemyn and Yutaka Oya, in addition to Champ d’Action, Ictus, MusikFabrik, the Concertgebouw Brugge (Bruges), Centre Henri Pousseur Liège, Ircam Paris, and Grame Lyon. Arne Deforce is featured regularly at leading international new music festivals (Ars Musica, Holland Festival, ManiFesta–Agora Paris, Archipel Genève, Musica Strasbourg, Mito, Fondation Royaumont, Musica Sacra Maastricht, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Amsterdam Cello Biennale).

His remarkable discography – Giacinto Scelsi, Morton Feldman, Iannis Xenakis complete works for cello+1 (aeon); Jonathan Harvey (Megadisc); Phill Niblock (Touch); Mika Vaino (Mego) – has received international acclaim (five Diapasons d’Or, Coup de coeur de l’Académie Charles Cros, and in 2012 the Prix Caecilia).

In 2012 Arne Deforce received his PhD in the arts from the University of Leiden (in collaboration with the Orpheus Institute Ghent) on the performance practice of late twentieth-century complex music, with a thesis entitled ‘LABORINTH Π – Thinking as experiment: 472 Meditations on the need for creative thought and experimentation in performing complex music from 1962 to the present’.

Benjamin Dieltjens
(1973) began studying the clarinet in 1986 with George Luyten at the Conservatory in Leuven. As from 1992, he pursued his studies at the Conservatory in Brussels: clarinet with Henri de Roeck and chamber music with Arie van Lysebeth, and completing them with Wolfgang Meyer in Karlsruhe (DE).

Dieltjens predominantly plays chamber music, both historical performances and classical and contemporary work. He is head teacher clarinet at the Conservatory in Brussels and co-founder of chamber music ensemble Het Collectief. Since 2007, he plays first clarinet with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic and is a guest member of the Orchestre des Champs Elysées. In addition to this, he regularly performs with ensembles such as Ictus, Oxalys, Il Gardellino and Ensemble Explorations. Dieltjens also works as a sound engineer.