Projects
In 2025 Sara Salvérius’s grandfather announced the very day and hour of his own death. He had applied for euthanasia and knew exactly when he would draw his final breath. For Sara, this foreshadowing of an imminent farewell was not only the beginning of a personal period of mourning, but also the beginning of a quest for the cadence that gives rhythm to every single life. Driven by the ambition to compose once again for a larger ensemble, this year she plans to bring together four musicians from various backgrounds: saxophonist Bertel Schollaert, clarinettist Jean-Philippe Poncin, trombonist Frederik Heirman and trumpetist Sam Vloemans. Together they plan to explore the wind that rushes through their instruments – at times with the melancholic tone of a whispered last word or with the exuberant flourish of a brass band. They celebrate life, leave-taking and death both through composition and improvisation – for everything is breath. Expected in 2027.
Sara Salvérius (accordion & composition)
Jean-Philippe Poncin (clarinet/bass clarinet)
Sam Vloemans (trumpet)
Frederik Heirman (trombone)
Bertel Schollaert (saxophones)
Breath
Accordion and wind quartet
Expected in 2027
Pendulum
Accordion and string quartet
Pendulum is a musical journey exploring the movement between extremes, and the calm that lies in between. A unique world of sound emerges and is shaped together with the string quartet SunSunSun: all the quartet’s instruments were carved from the same wood by violin maker Pieter Goossens, creating a warm and intimate resonance. The music sways gently from joy to sorrow, light to darkness, inwards and outwards. And a soft space of connection is created exactly where the pendulum pauses, a place where opposites touch and briefly merge.
This project was awarded the Flanders Folk Award for Best Live Band 2025.
Sara Salvérius (accordion & composition)
Jeroen Baert & Yumika Lecluyze (violin)
Karel Coninx (viola)
Seraphine Stragier (cello)
In the spring of 2024, Sara Salvérius paid a visit to Clos Bizet, and assisted-living centre in Anderlecht (Brussels). She had been requested by Klara Festival to spend a week in residence there. There she met the residents, listened to their stories and began composing new work. This is how Stories without words came about: a series of intimate compositions for accordion and clarinet in which the lives shine through of those of a generation who are seldom heard nowadays.Accompanied by clarinettist Jean-Philippe Poncin, Sara has toured with Stories without words and played at venues large and small range from concert halls to living rooms and assisted-care centres. In between the tunes she relates the life stories of those who confided in her: a poet who is losing his words, a couple with an impressive collection of cuddly toys, a man who after a stroke can hardly move. Just how moving their stories are, can be heard in the music: fragile and melancholic at times but also passionate and full of a zest for life in which the characteristic timbre of the clarinet blends effortlessly with melancholic tonal palette of the accordion. Sara’s intense compositions and Jean-Philippe Poncin’s sensitive improvisations do rightful justice to the richly layered lives of the residents of Clos Bizet.
With this album, Sara Salvérius & Jean-Philippe Poncin won the audience award at the Belgian Worldwide Music Awards in 2026.
Sara Salvérius (accordion & composition)
Jean-Philippe Poncin (clarinet/bass clarinet)
Stories without words
Accordion and clarinet
Sara Salvérius
Accordion solo
Sara Salvérius lets her heart speak through her accordion. Her beautiful instrument breathes and echoes all her feelings, light and dark, happy and sad. During her concerts, she tells her own story through melodies and words. For years, Sara was known as a virtuoso accordionist and shared the stage with a whole host of fantastic bands. But it was the loss of her sister that prompted her to start writing music herself. Because she simply couldn't do anything else. The sounds from her instrument gave voice to the powerful emotions that overwhelmed her and at the same time ensured that her sister always stayed close to her. How an accordion can sound like a bath of melancholy, but also like a warm blanket. How you can be sad and happy at the same time. And how every feeling, big or small, light or dark, has its place.