Keynote Speaker

Lukas Pairon
Lukas (°1958) studied philosophy in Switzerland and later obtained a BA in educational and political science at the University of Paris VIII. He worked for several years as a researcher in the field of adult education and literacy programs at the UNESCO in Paris and at the Ministry of Culture of the French speaking Community of Belgium in Brussels. But at the age of 27, he changed his profession by becoming the artistic director of the contemporary music and dance programs of the Flanders Festival. He left this festival two years later to found Walpurgis, a production house for contemporary opera, and thereby got closer to his first interests as a young boy: opera, theatre and music. It is in that period that he got acquainted with many of the musicians who would later create Ictus, since they were engaged as soloists to create the new music theatre pieces which Walpurgis produced. When Ictus was founded in 1994, Lukas was there and became its first director.
Since 2005 he also directs the organization Music Fund (www.musicfund.be), an initiative of Ictus and Oxfam Solidarity.