Scala & Kolacny Brothers

Founded in 1996 in Aarschot, Belgium, Scala & Kolacny Brothers comprises a female choir conducted by Stijn Kolacny, while his brother Steven handles the arrangements and piano accompaniment. The project initially developed locally before, in the early 2000s, turning to choral covers of rock, pop and indie songs, transforming pieces by Radiohead, Nirvana, Depeche Mode and U2 into works for female voices and piano. The group’s music is built on intimate choral textures, frequently melancholic harmonies and a generally moderate tempo, with a repertoire mainly in English but punctuated by songs in French and German. The albums On the Rocks (2002), Dream On (2004) and It All Leads to This (2006) established this aesthetic of rearranged covers, balanced between pop culture and choral writing. The international exposure of their version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” used in 2010 in the trailer for the film The Social Network, brought Scala & Kolacny Brothers renewed visibility and opened the way to tours in Europe and North America, where the choir performs both in concert halls and at festivals.