When the members of the Studium Generale team say farewell to “their” Lucas Asselbergs, of course they do so with a meticulously prepared stage night. And so it went on Wednesday evening in a packed Blauwe Zaal. A home game for Asselbergs, who is retiring after 35 years at TU/e, the last 16 of which he spent as head of Studium Generale.

The common thread of the farewell program—titled the Evening of Asselbergs—is the set of questions posed by master interviewer Frénk van der Linden. Cheerful and skillful musical interludes are provided by student music association Quadrivium: one moment a marching band suddenly crosses the stage, the next a cappella singing has the audience holding its breath. But the biggest musical surprise comes from Asselbergs himself, who improvises the evening’s closing chord on the grand piano.

Pleaser

Music is a major part of Asselbergs’ identity. He arranges, and the piano is his great love, but he plays many other instruments as well. Even so, an academic career initially seemed in the cards: he studied psychology in Utrecht and earned his PhD at what is now the Trimbos Institute, supervised by former D66 senator Paul Schnabel.

But after receiving his doctorate, he decided for the first time in his life to buck expectations: “I chose music, and of course that disappointed my parents.” His natural inclination is to please. “I’m a bit of a labradoodle.” It’s a mindset he has since learned to embrace and channel: “If needed, I can be tough too.”

Dummies

Another defining trait of Asselbergs is that he has always pursued his interests and skills broadly. That attitude brought him a rich life, though it may have kept him from reaching the very top in a single field. “I’m a Studium Generalist,” he responds wittily when Van der Linden presses him on this.

In the 1990s, he combined his work at TU/e with a grueling schedule of about a hundred musical performances a year. And anyone who has seen his living room—also his music room—knows it holds a long list of instruments: from piano to drums, and from accordion to ukulele. Asselbergs plays them all.

Student psychologist

Although his musical career never produced a number one hit, it was certainly successful. With the Boulevard of Broken Dreams orchestra, he won an Edison Award. And with the jazz band the Handsome Harry Company, he toured Europe for seventeen years and recorded seven CDs. When he joined Studium Generale in 1991, it was as a music programmer.

Hide-and-seek

With interviewer Van der Linden, Asselbergs looks back on the programs that stood out most to him. Like the time a man with pedophilic feelings came to speak about his experiences. “He didn’t act on those feelings, but of course it was extremely complex and sensitive. Even though I had communicated carefully in advance about the reasoning behind this choice, the Executive Board later made it clear that more coordination would have been appreciated.”

More recent was the evening when artist in residence Stefano Keizers played hide-and-seek with crowds of students in the Auditorium. “Very unexpected and out of the box.” And Keizers hasn’t forgotten Asselbergs either: he appears in the Blauwe Zaal with a video message, sending his best wishes.

Gaslab

Then there are the painful memories. Asselbergs pauses at the deep sorrow the team felt when their colleague Corine Bolwerk—an invaluable presence at Studium Generale for decades—became ill and passed away in 2022.

And what does he, looking back, regret most? “Giving up Gaslab.” Before moving to Luna and the Blauwe Zaal, this small building behind Vertigo housed Studium Generale’s stage. “TU/e was dealing with a shortage of space, and I did understand that.”

But still. “In hindsight, I should have chained myself to Gaslab and let them drag me out screaming and spitting,” he says half joking, half serious. Opposite that loss stands a victory: “Keeping our share in the USE/ITEC program for academic development.”