Maestro

Synopsis

1788 – Felix Hildebrand (Willem De Schryver) wants only one thing: to become a maestro. But the composer struggles with stage fright, nobody buys his music, and his debts keep piling up. If Felix wants to save himself and his mother from the poorhouse, he needs a hit… and fast.

In a desperate bid to launch his career and win ‘Maestro of the Year’ at the Imperial Competition in Vienna, the composer strikes a pact with a demon (Soe Nsuki): his first great love in exchange for an iPod loaded with contemporary Belgian pop hits. Suddenly, Felix has a 240-year head start on his rivals, and guaranteed hits in hand. Together with three musical misfits (Jeroen Leenders, Lien Van den Bossche, and Ismaïl L’Hamiti), Felix sets off on a thrilling road trip toward the competition. On the road to Vienna, the ensemble grows into a musical sensation with their classical covers of Belgian pop songs (including Zilver, Mia, and En Dans). But Felix also incurs the wrath of a conservative bishop (Peter Van den Eede), who launches a merciless hunt to bring him down.

As Felix’s “revolutionary” song lyrics spread among the people, one question looms: will he make it to maestro, and at what price?

Listen to the trailer below

The Making Of

Maestro took five years to write and compose. After an intensive process of table reads and singing rehearsals, the team spent fifteen recording days in the Sonhouse studio, where the story was brought to life scene by scene. The actors performed together in the studio to keep their reactions as authentic as possible. The recording was then enriched with a walla session, the layered background voices that bring the various settings (a tavern, a church, a courtroom, the competition) to life. Violin and cello were also added to the score, giving the music extra depth and colour. Foley and sound design further refined Maestro’s sonic world. In the final mix, all these elements come together: the pop hits, score, voices, foley and sound design are woven into one harmonious whole, where every detail contributes to the atmosphere, the emotion and the overall experience of the story.

Maestro is a co-production of Sonhouse and VRT, made possible with support from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Vleeshuis Sound of the City Museum, Herita, and deAuteurs.

SCRIPT AND DIRECTION

• Script and Direction: Mattias Goovaerts
• Script Coaches: Sara Theunynck, Lucas Derycke, Joren Slaets, Philippe Verkinderen

MUSIC

• Score and Arrangements: Peter Van Riet
• Music Clearing: Cedric Engels and Bruno Bovsovers-Carette
• Vocal Coach: Tim Stuart
• Cellist: Katelijn Van Kerckhoven
• Violinist: Edith Haesendonckx

SOUND DEPARTMENT

• Dialogue and Vocal Sound Engineer, Dialogue Editing: Koenraad Foesters
• Editing, Sound Design and Foley: Gillis Van Der Wee
• Foley Assistant: Casper Hendriks
• Additional Sound Engineers: Sander Villers, Nicolas Delépine
• Music Mix: Christophe Gerard
• Final Mix: Jurriaan Van Dijck
• Studio: Sonhouse

PRODUCTION

• Producer: Grietkin Deroo
• Music Supervisor & Sonhouse Co-producer: Cedric Engels
• Sonhouse Production Assistant: Tessa Torrekens
• VRT Podcast Lead: Catherine Lekime
• VRT Content Coordinator: Kaat Valvekens
• VRT Script Advisor: Rani Liekens

GRAPHIC TEAM

• Photographer: Olympe Tits
• Videographer: Mathias Mortelmans
• Styling: Maud Kuypers
• Makeup and Hair: Leonie Gysel

MUSIC CREDITS

• “Synrise” Written by Mickael Karkousse, Bert Libeert, Tom Coghe and David Martijn. Published by Concord Music Publishing
• “Mia” Written by Luc De Vos, Wout De Schutter and Geert Bonne. Published by Lipstick Notes.
• “En Dans” Written by Kris Wauters, Koen Wauters and Marc Vanhie.
• “Zilver” Written by Pommelien Thijs, Simon De Wit, Sasha Rangas and Stefan Van Leijsen. Published by Tousensemble Publishing, CTM Entertainment Belgium and Warner/Chappell Music Belgium.
• “Stop Met Wenen” Written by Kaat Vanstraelen, Melvin Slabbinck, Anton Robberechts and Faust De Vogelaere.
• “Zing Mee” Music written by Pieter Van Dessel and arranged by Peter Van Riet, lyrics by Mattias Goovaerts. Published by Sonhouse

CAST

• Felix: Willem De Schryver (Agent: Leonie Gevers)
• Jakob: Jeroen Leenders
• Dario: Ismaïl L’hamiti
• Simone: Lien Van den Bossche
• Bishop Vargas: Peter Van den Eede
• Lilith: Soe Nsuki (Agent: Femke Hintjens)
• Karine from HR: Tiny Bertels (Agent: Ann Willems)
• Helene: Mieke De Groote
• Uncle Patrick: Dirk Van Dijck
• Mozart: Pieter Verelst (Agent: Chris Verhaeghe)
• Frau Mimi: Nadia Amin (Agent: Femke Wennink)
• General Archibald: David Vennix
• Frank De Knotser: Pieter Jan De Paepe
• Leopold: Mike Wauters
• Young Felix: James Wauters
• The Emperor: Eric Godon
• Mr Poot: Tim Stuart
• Alderman, Guard: Dempsey Hendrickx
• Second: Thomas Vanbrabant
• Stefania: Tessa Torrekens
• Frau Schmidt: Ilse La Monaca
• Frau Roch: Lies Van Grieken
• Krispijn: Jervin Weckx
• Marie-Olympe: Maja Van Honsté
• Ticket Clerk: Philippe Verkinderen
• Angela: Grietkin Deroo
• Additional Voices: Pieter Rotthier, Gilles Torfs, Pieter Beck, Annelies Goovaerts, Greet Smekens, Trees Goethals
• Voice Credits: Mike Wauters
• Children’s Choir: Jozefien and Leonie Gysen