Being a pianist is definitely not an easy career choice. When did your musical career start?

I have no idea when I started off to have a ‘career’. When I was studying at the conservatory, I had no career dreams whatsoever. Playing music was the goal, not a means by which to achieve a professional life. Also, I didn’t know what kind of music to play. At the conservatory I was being taught the traditional repertoire, although there was also a great focus on contemporary music. At that time I was already very active in all kinds of avant-garde and free-jazz ensembles, working for theatrical companies etc. What happened afterwards was that for about 10 years I played more and more concerts of mostly new music, acquiring a larger repertoire of essential pieces. But one cannot say I have a ‘career’ in the traditional sense at all: I am not locked into a certain ‘style’, I was not a boy-wonder; I was not ‘giving my first recital at the age of two’; I do not have a manager; I never participated in any competitions and in general, concerts and projects just seem to come to me from time to time, in any case enough to keep life interesting.

You have travelled extensively, giving concerts all over the world. What has been your favourite venue to perform so far?

I have travelled a lot indeed and I can say that one of the great things about being a musician is that one travels to unusual destinations. Probably, the most remote place was Greenland.

The strangest venues were a restaurant in Austria where I performed in quintet with Fred Frith, a British guitar improviser.

A very beautiful venue was a small theatre in San Gemignano, Tuscany, Italy. The town was very busy during the day but deserted during the night. So, after the concert I went out to have an extensive walk under full moon, with San Gemignano only for me.

What, according to you, has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlight is probably the first performance and subsequent recording of the piano marathon Inner Cities by the American composer Alvin Curran. The performance lasted almost four hours. What is special for me is that this piece could not have been written 20 or 30 years ago, it’s music of today, that sets new standards and questions music itself. I feel very privileged that in contrast with some of my other performances, for a brief moment I suddenly felt in the very centre of music history.

What would you like to achieve over the next 10 years?

I will, in the next 10 years, probably keep on playing Inner Cities. Above all I hope to continue my search for music. In fact, the fact that I come to Malta has something to do with this. Someone had told me about Charles Camilleri in Malta. I requested some scores and here I am. I also want to play the Brahms first piano concerto.

What is your ultimate dream?

My ultimate dream in general is that the world would develop more in the direction of tolerance and peace and perhaps I am naive to think that music can actually actually be instrumental in this. Apart from that, I try to live the present and not plan too far ahead. However, I’d like to acquire a luxurious villa with a grand piano somewhere in southern Europe that would enable me to retreat with my wife and four children from the busy life in Belgium. It would be a place to go and concentrate on music. A “place in the sun’’ so to say. I know it’s the cliché of the modern middle class, but if some fan donates me a castle, I wouldn’t say no. After all, everyone has the right to cherish some bourgeois dreams.

What do you think it is about music that makes people respond to it in such an emotional way?

I don’t know. I have been trying to find that one out, but I think there’s no answer. What I do know is that there are different kinds of emotions, and that in part, people are aesthetically trained, almost predestined. For example, people who listened to loud rock-music in the 60s that was at the time intended to express anger, will now listen to it and become melancholic. The same with Beethoven’s music which is continuously listened to by changing generations that respond to it in a constantly changing way. This is very intriguing when you consider that Beethoven’s intellectual contemporaries probably recognised enlightenment and revolutionary ideals in the music, whereas in the darker days of German history it came to symbolise “the supremacy” of the Germans. I do not understand this. If I would I would probably stop playing music.

What should the audience expect from your performance in Malta?

The concert has both romantic pieces and modern pieces. This sets it apart from both the typical traditional recital and the new music recital which are common in festivals. So, inevitably, contrasts will be very big. Apart from that, it’s better that the audience expects nothing, and just participates in the event. If they know what is going to happen then why would they come?