Piano solo music by Tomas Johan Kristian, my real name!

I was born in 1977 as Tomas Johan Kristian. I have been submerged in classical music since the day I was born. When I started playing Czerny, Bach & Beethoven on the piano at the age of six, I immediately started inventing my own minimal piano tunes. These days, I release experimental ambient and neoclassical music as Suntapes.

The time has come for Tomas Johan Kristian to release very personal piano solo compositions. Some of these sonates have been composed more than 20 years ago. Constantly I create new piano pieces and keep working on them. Now in 2024, from March 15th until August I start releasing 11 tracks. In the end of August the album will be released. And then many more pieces are ready to record and release in 2024 and later.

Wavering between melodramatic subtle beauty and energetic minimalism, the solo piano pieces of Tomas Johan Kristian have a soothing feel and warm sound. His quirky approach to classical compositions sprung from his character to avoid the expected and to submerge in his own organic connection with repetitiveness.

Check out the website for more information about Tomas Johan Kristian and the links to all streaming platforms: www.tomasjohankristian.com

Follow me on Spotify to discover the tracks.

Extricate

A soothing universe that listens to a different sound! Circus artist Bert Berg explores the boundaries of handstand based on intrinsically driven movements. Composer Suntapes is extrapolating the minimalistic approach in his compositions. The interaction between both worlds is the base of the new performance “Extricate”.  

About Extricate
‘Extricate’ is a circus ritual that untangles itself from a world in overdrive, by inviting an audience to a duet performed by a reshaped hand balancing language and an auditive universe.

During this circus ritual, an unravelling participative performance unfolds itself. The piece leans on the artistic harmony between a language created out of a new approach to hand-balancing and minimal musical compositions that invite active listening.

The project rebels in all ‘gentle calmness’ against a society that many perceive as too intense, over-consuming and over-saturated with choices. The harmonious analog universe that this performance creates is our answer to this.

Next to the performance Bert and Tomas (Suntapes) will bring guided ‘unwinding sessions’ in which they’ll invite people to provoke the calmness through their bodies in a somatic manner. The same auditive universe & parts of the physical language will be used. For those who can experience both, a deeper connection will be found.

concept & circus performance: Bert Berg (Bert Vanden Berghe)

composition & music performance: Suntapes (Tomas Vanderplaetse)

dramaturgy: Margot Jansens

choreograhy: Roseta Placencia

videography: Wim Piqueur

ritual dramaturgy: Iris Carta

costume & scenography: Valerie Le Roy

production: Lien Vanbossele

exterior ear: Aifoon vzw

coproduction: PERPLX, Dommelhof & CIRKLABO

with financial support: Vlaamse overheid, Miramiro & Blinkout

Technique
Age: 7+ | Black box (maybe in situ) | Full length | Capacity: 50 – 500 pers. 

Planning
Several preliminary investigations & try-outs have be done. In 2023 and mainly 2024 the production will be created with the team. Provisional première of the social parkour: April 28, 2025. Planning will be updated.

Contact & booking
Bert Vanden Berghe – info@bertberg.com – +32 478 577 866 – www.bertberg.com 

Regenerative flows

Artwork Installation by Sep Verboom

A living landscapes that grows and evolves in time. A place where silence reigns and time seems to slow down. As the elements in the limestone exhale, CO2 reacts with slaked lime, gradually forming a solid carbonaceous landscape. Regenerative Flows invites us to slow down, to reflect on the world around us. It is a reminder that beauty and complexity can come from the simplest materials and the most basic processes.

The installation was a starting point for different artistic perspectives to inspire and co-create, adding new poetic layers to the installation. The 5K video images of the limestone artwork are very fascinating and varying landscapes views that slowly evolve and pull an audience in a unique and unkown universe.

Suntapes added a soothing live music performance to these immersive video images in Z33 museum. The auditive universe contains the sounds of the artwork and a relaxing & evolving composition with acoustic instruments, analogue synths and effects.

An immersive video installation with these images and music is now in creation! Looking for an installation to slow down an audience? Get in touch!

Credits

Z33: Healing Water exposition 2023
Artwork “Regenerative Flows” : Sep Verboom
Videographer: Glenn Verdickt
Composition & Live music: Suntapes

GoDogWait

𝗚𝗼𝗗𝗼𝗴𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁 - dance with a wink to Beckett. The first lockdown 2020. ARC - dance company, saw a parallel between the story of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' and the world we found ourselves in at the time: waiting an absurdly long time before we were allowed to do what we love again. Coupled with a sometimes absurd series of measures, which created a sense of living in a surrealistic twilight zone.

And the inspiration followed. ARC wanted to translate Beckett's surrealistic play into dance. But how do you portray mental confusion? The dance company started looking, and came up with the combination 'punk rock meets ballet'. Under the title GoDogWait, a nod to Beckett's piece.

In GoDogWait, classical dance and punk rock go hand in hand. Music and dance meet on the border of the experimental and create a story that captures the essence of Beckett's play. GoDogWait is a collaboration between different disciplines.

As musicians we were inspired by the story. Dancers are guided by the music. Live, that gives intensity, sparks, and waiting while something does happen. We called this genre of music: DANCE PUNK. Combining electronic dance music with synthesizers, with a punk tempo on drums and distorted bass guitar sound:

☆Dancers: Aki Nishio, Agnieszka Agi Romek, Jean-Louis Decock, Maciej Piotr Beczek.

☆Live Music: Tomas VANDERPLAETSE & Sven De POTTER, Jente NEELS & Michiel VanDeWinkel

Première: 29.10.2022

Piano artifacts

This audiovisual art installation is the first in a series of installations built around detuned and degraded piano’s. Although this piano is not playable in a traditional way, it still has an amazing sonic character that is reinforced by artificial interventions. The piano is prepared to produce sustained tones and rhythmic convolutions by itself and when touching the piano. The soundscape that emerges from the piano represents a state of suspended animation. What will happen to this piano? Will it be refurbished? Will it be destroyed? Or will it be ignored forever?

CREDITS

Concept, piano preparation, sound, image & installation: Suntapes

Year: 2021

Video shot at exposition “Buiten spoor” in Chinastraat Gent.

Solo piano set @Atelier Jules August

A pure acoustic neo-classical set on the grand piano

After many months of no shows, it was a real pleasure to play an acoustic set with a lot of unreleased Suntapes piano compositions. These new neo-classical piano tracks will be released somewhere in 2022, after I released all the ambient electronic and piano music I recorded the last year.

The set list also included my favorite neo-classical piano pieces by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass, Yann Tiersen and Jóhann Jóhannsson.

The 2 sessions took place in the stunning atelier of photographer Jules August.

Check out the Spotify playlist Latenight Piano that starts of with the setlist of the show (my unreleased work will be added later)

Immersea

A unique immersive artwork experience

This immersive experience is an audiovisual artwork impression of the sea. Colorful painted artwork elements are projected on the floor as you walk through the space. Analogue sound vibes slowly evolve in a mesmerizing minimal composition. As you create a visual and sonic symphony with the movement of your feet you are urged into a psychedelic dreamworld. And so you are immersed in this unique sea!

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To give an impression of the #immersea experience we had a dancer move around in the space:

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CALENDAR

FRAGMENTS of land and other scapes: 30/10/2021 - 07/11/2021

LUCA Ghent: 08/06/2021 - 17/06/2021

KAPOW Ghent: 24/04/2021 - 25/04/2021

Get in touch if you’re interested to host this installation.

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CREDITS

Artwork: Deogracias Kihalu
Animation & interactive magic: Kasper Jordaens
Music & sounddesign: Suntapes
Concept: Tomas Vanderplaetse, Kasper Jordaens, Deogracias Kihalu

End of an era: organic audiovisual flow

An organic abstract audiovisual story by videographer Wim Piqueur and Suntapes. This was recorded as a live stream performance in March 2021 where live visuals and live music are interacting in a subtle manner. For this session we carefully selected abstract images and sounds to create a minimalist ambient flow. The result is tranquil, haunting at times and always with an immersive soul.

PLAY

Bechstein studio session

This studio session evolves around the warm character of my 1881 Bechstein grand piano. The piano is prepared with felt under the strings to create an even warmer and closer sound. The placing of the ribbon microphones is so that you can hear all sounds coming from the piano, including squeaks and the rubbing of the felt. Just like I hear it when I’m playing the piano. Big thanks to Jesse De Roo who recorded and mixed this session.

To start, I manipulate different sound sources inside the piano to extract dark filmic soundscapes. After that, I perform some new neoclassic compositions to let you dream away.

Director Jakob Rosseel created the visual atmosphere in my studio and captured the session on film. The result is a melancholic plunge inside the Bechstein with me. Since we can’t do real shows at the moment, we thought this augmented visual experience brings something you couldn’t experience in a real concert. I actually created the compositions around the idea of how to film it.

With support of the flemish government. This show was originally streamed on the Suntapes Facebook page. Now it’s available on Youtube.

Soundtrack Bestia del clima

Ecoprins is an organization that tells moving stories about ecology worldwide. For their documentary “Bestia del Clima” the team spent several months in Central America to capture stories of people affected by climate change. The film follows 3 people as they struggle in their own way.

Suntapes was commissioned to compose music for the documentary. The sounds and music were chosen to reinforce the tension and hopelessness of the protagonists in their search for a better future.

Watch the trailer of the documentary:

Bestia del clima was in avant premiere on Dec 7th 2019 and is shown on several festivals. Read the article in Mo.

Psychedelic trip from Japan to Mali

Here’s a Spotify playlist that takes you on a 4 hour chill musical trip from Asia to Africa and beyond. It features a lot of Japanese ambient by some of my favorite artists such as Susumu Yokota, Yusuke Tsutsumi, Haruka Nakamura and of course Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Further along you’ll find more Indian and Middle-Eastern vibes which will keep you pondering about travels through vast landscapes to eventually drop you right into the African continent with lovely minimal tunes.

Enjoy the trip! Follow and play the playlist.

You can also submit tracks for this playlist by using the contact form.