‘Those who experience a performance by Rebecca Stradiot, shouldn’t expect bells and whistles. It’s pure sobriety in full glory. Rebecca’s stories have a fairy-like atmosphere but are at the same time true to life. They touch the heart by their simplicity and wonder. In between texts she plays with passion on her accordion.’ Sandra Deakin in the magazine ‘Change think positive’


A few reactions after ‘Perles Fines’:

‘You create a unique atmosphere. You let people go home warm at heart.’

‘Sparkling and surprising. This was pure enjoyment!’

‘Accessible texts, flavoured with beautiful music, let you forget the time.’

‘Lightness and profundity go hand in hand, played with panache.’

‘Magnificent, as well in terms of language, content as music.’

‘I never liked the accordion, but you made me believe something else.’


A pick at random from ‘Memoires of a gentlewoman’ guestbook:

‘Magnificent & Pure!’
Sandra Deakin

‘Rebecca creates a jewel of a performance, full of miniatures, sensitive, tender and fragile. Gorgeous.’

‘The way Rebecca lays her soul bare, inevitably touches your own soul.’

‘Sparkling and surprising. Pure joy!’

‘A soft rippling, sometimes splashing brook with pure spring water, streaming through spring, under blossoming Japanese cherry trees, apple trees and magnolias with fabulously beautiful music.’
Ben Van Ostade

‘Beautiful, touching and healing. It was delightful.’

‘Wonderfully honest performance! Honestly wonderful performance!’

‘Beautiful, intimate, warm, bursting with life lust, spiced up with fine humor and great music. Lasting impressions.’

‘Magnificent, heartwarming, moving, clear as crystal and still so ‘just Rebecca!’!

‘Rebecca Stradiot has talent to efficiently go deep into seemingly simple things. Her stories are observations of life, where universality and love for detail alternate. All this served with perfect timing and taste for melody. Her own way, Rebecca fully develops her instrument’s potential. Moves are serene, her smile divine, her voice caressing and her accordion play tempting.’
Marjon Sarneel, Writer and previous theatre critic of BN/DeStem (daily paper)

‘Memoires of a gentlewoman is a very intense and personal show. It was a real joy to listen to this mix of beautiful stories and delicate humor. The accordion play was also powerful. Longing for more!’
Chris Meizler, Cultural Centre Merksem

‘A show fluttering like a damselfly having unexpected bends. Beautiful sight!’

‘At the end of the show everyone remained seated. Deeply touched.’


About the performance ‘Letters to Sleeping Beauty’ was written:

‘An invitation to let myself dream away
Letting go of all the buzz and noise in the world
Immersed in the storytelling by The Muse
The gentle accordion vibrations
The dance of The Muse senses wandered me through the story, being part of a fairytale
Mesmerising, the voice, the words, the sounds
Rocking me to sleep
Sleeping Beauty’


A few reactions after other performances:

‘Rebecca Stradiot shows herself as a born narrator and performer as well as a devilishly good musician on that diatonic accordion full of surprises.’
Cultural Centre Hasselt

‘Rebecca’s podium appearance is sensitive, honest, vulnerable, but ever passionate. Besides her great power is her ambition to make her performances attractive for a large public. The combination ‘word and music, poetry and accordion’ is brought in a very fine and intense way. Really unique in its genre.’
Chris Meizler, Cultural Centre Merksem

‘Yesterday I heard that the evening was again a tremendous success; they really appreciated your talent. Fantastic! Congratulations for what you can accomplish with your public.’
Marjan Hellraeth, Programmator Kamerpodium Musica et Poetica

‘You touch people in their deepest essence.’

‘You transform the accordion into a noble instrument.’

‘Rebecca Stradiot obviously chooses for simple texts, behind which there is a great deapth.’

‘I like the fact that it’s impossible to put a label on you. Time and time again you surprise people with your variation, with the music choices you make and/or compose for your shows. It makes the accordion so different then I used to know it.’
Luc Schreyen, Get Movin’

‘You insert creativity and sensitivity in your music in an extraordinary way.’

‘What a beautiful voice.’

‘No other instrument can sound so melancholic and festive at the same time as the accordion. The perfect soundtrack for the formula ‘Zuurvrij op Zondag’! Thank you for the lovely enchanting atmosphere you created so cheerfully.’
House of Literature, Antwerp

‘The play of Rebecca Stradiot doesn’t lend itself to sports fields nor football stadiums. She can make far better use of her talents in intimate surroundings. She offers beauty and poetry and her performances are a welcome antitoxin for the aggression in our society.’
Marleen Van Ouytsel, Member of the Board of the Flemish Literature Fund

‘Nice how you show yourself vulnerable.’
Leo Berndsen, President Indian Caps Kunstkamers

‘A welcome breathing space. Far away from the rat race.’
http://www.cjp.be/boekenbeurs

‘The personal music you bring as a ‘variation’ on an instrument which is not the most obvious one, is very surprising and therefore very strong. But especially the ‘natural’ with which you bring poetry, very ‘common’ and therefore very exceptional, makes your performances very accessible for each public that wants to enjoy a beautiful night full of musical poetry.’
Steven Duyck, Librarian Westerlo

‘Rebecca Stradiot is an absolute surplus value in our podium landscape. The public highly appreciates her intimate, poetic and at the same time strong performances.’
Sabine Denissen, Art Promotion of the Province Antwerp

‘Rebecca Stradiot convinced us that an accordion can be much more than a popular accompaniment instrument. Her talent and virtuosity - and this in different musical genres - make of her an important ambassador of this ‘stuffy’ instrument. Furthermore she combines carefully chosen music with surprising challenges in other domains.’
Pat Vanderhaeghe, Director Cultural Centre Jan Tervaert

‘You are so beautifully one with your instrument.’

‘You take people along to another world.’

‘Rebecca Stradiot brings poetry and music in a most touching way. Each performance is an enrichment and a cultural emotion. Every time refreshing and amazingly good.’
Yolande Avontroodt


And a pick at random from the guest book of ‘Rebecca's Boudoir’:

‘You enchant your public… ’
Diana Van Strydonck, Expohuis

‘Then you find yourself in a silent film full of splendid pantomime, all of a sudden you get images of ‘The Lovers’ of Peynet, and a little later you can catch a glimpse of Fred Astaire and a some tralala, all this bathed in unique music. Very surprising!’

‘An outstanding poetical performance balancing between vulnerability and power.’

‘Charming and noblesse oblige! Pithy associations and lovely winks.’
Noortje Wiesbauer

‘Touching, amusing, sensual, passionate and even much more...’

‘What a charming and sensitive interaction between both.’

‘Intimate, beautiful, poetic, dreamlike, humour. I really enjoyed it, from beginning to end.’

‘Less is more... So beautiful in the simplicity, what a power! It’s a joy!’

‘Graceful atmosphere from beginning to end and a real treat for ear and eye. I was so pleased to ‘see’ music. Many concerts are neglected visually, and you show the audience the surplus value of the combination of both. Sophisticated and playful at the same time. Hats off!’
Piet Raemdonck, Painter

‘Heartwarming! That tastes morish…’
Anne Zellien, Jewelry Designer


And last but not least:

‘Continue composing, it's magnificent, touching.’
Didier Laloy, Accordeonist

Photo © Karina Beuthe