About the Performance

For an award ceremony and concert that honours the crème de la crème of world-renowned composers and songwriters it is only fitting we invite a world-renowned orchestra and conductor to do their music justice. The musicians of Brussels Philharmonic and their conductor, Maestro Dirk Brossé are more than up to the task. Exclusively for this concert, composer Mark Isham will perform the trumpet solos himself, Bruno Coulais's scores will be accompanied by the A Filetta choir, and other talented soloists will take the stage.

Dirk Brossé

MUSIC DIRECTOR, CONDUCTOR

Dirk Brossé, an internationally acclaimed conductor and award winning composer, is currently Music Director of Film Fest Gent. He has guest-conducted many top orchestras, all over the world, among them, the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Vancouver Opera and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In 2008 he made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2016 he made his debut at the Carnegie Hall, New York.

Maestro Brossé is a highly-regarded, award-winning composer, whose body of some work includes concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic pieces, as well as scores for cinema, television and stage, such as the Emmynominated score for the BBC/HBO series, Parade’s End. Other scores include Prince of Africa, Daens, Tintin, Rembrandt, Ben X, Pauline & Paulette, 14-18 and Onze Natuur.

© WOUTER MAECKELBERGHE

Maestro Brossé has made more than 100 CD recordings and has collaborated with world-class artists such as John Williams, Toots Thielemans, Gabriel Yared and Hans Zimmer. He is a versatile and creative performer with a keen interest in cinematic music; he is an early advocate of bringing movie scores to orchestral venues. He was chosen by John Williams to conduct the Star Wars in Concert World Tour in 2009, the first world tour of its kind.

Brussels Philharmonic

“The world needs symphonic music. And symphonic music needs the world.”

That is the firm belief of the Brussels Philharmonic. As a symphony orchestra founded in 1935 under the auspices of the Belgian public broadcaster, unveiling the symphonic world as best we can is deep in our DNA. By innovating while maintaining full respect for the value of the past, we keep the symphonic music of the past, present and future relevant and inspiring – for ourselves and all of society. We do this from the historic Studio 4 at Flagey in Brussels, together with our music director Kazushi Ono: he shares our open and adventurous spirit and our rock-solid belief in the need for cross-fertilization between art, life and society.

The orchestra’s international reputation comes to the fore in its specialisation in recording soundtracks (including the Oscar-winning music for The Artist), the many successful recordings for labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, and the ambitious projects on prestigious stages around the world (Carnegie Hall, New York, Philharmonie de Paris, Musikverein Wien, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Cadogan Hall, London).

Otto Derolez

CONCERTMASTER, SOLOIST

© THOMAS LEGRÈVE

Otto Derolez has been the concertmaster of Brussels Philharmonic since 1999. He is considered one of the leading violinists of Belgium, and as of 2012 been Faculty Professor at YOA Orchestra of the Americas, coaching young musicians all over the world. Otto made his debut with the Brussels Philharmonic in 1999, with Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.

As a soloist, he has performed in prestigious concert halls all over the world, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Festival Hall in Osaka, and Cité de la Musique in Paris, just to name a few. An active chamber musician, he has been a member of the Prometheus Ensemble since 1992. With this ensemble he recorded Schubert's Octet and Trout Quintet, Stravinsky's l'Histoire du Solda, Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony and Transfigured Night.

Soloists

KAREL STEYLAERTS Cello

Karel Steylaerts studied cello at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in the class of Carlo Schmitz and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne with Maria Kliegel. In 1990, he was a laureate of the Tenuto Competition. He was a member of the Tröndlin Piano Forte Trio, with whom he released several critically acclaimed recordings. In 2006, together with violinist Shirly Laub and violist Tony Nys, Steylaerts founded TrioFenix, with whom he is regularly invited to perform at many national and international festivals. Their recordings of Beethoven's works were highly praised by both press and audience. Sinds 2008, Steylaerts is the cello principal at Brussels Philharmonic. He is a guest professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles.

JOLIEN DE GENDT Soprano

In 2009 Jolien De Gendt obtained her Master’s diploma in singing from the Royal Conservatoire in Ghent, where she trained with Gidon Saks, Marcos Pujol and Mireille Capelle. She was then selected for the postgraduate course at Flanders Operastudio. During her studies, she performed such stage roles as: The Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. She recently sang the Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte in a production by CloseOpera and the role of Nadia in Léhar’s La veuve joyeuse with the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Hervé Niquet. She is much in demand as a concert soloist, with performances in Belgium and abroad. Besides opera arias, her repertoire includes the solo soprano part of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Bach’s John and Matthew Passions, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, and Händel’s Messiah.

A FILETTA Choir

A Filetta’s music is a journey. It could be said that it is a polyphonic and vocal proposal which is challenging, audacious and contemporary, even though coming from a powerful oral tradition. The singers gladly confess that “the encounter” is written in their musical DNA. They have never wanted to limit this journey to the perimeter of their roots: encouraged by the tradition they inherited from, they quickly opened to others - other territories, other disciplines, other artists. Sacred music stands alongside profane songs with multiple influences, film scores with Bruno Coulais, creations for Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s choreographies, choruses for a Greek tragedy or pieces from a requiem requested by the Saint-Denis Festival.

MÉLISSA ZERBIB (mezzo-)soprano

Mélissa Zerbib discovered music through learning the piano at the age of 4 and the cello at the age of 6 at the Nice Conservatory of Music. At the age of 14, she joined the ORFEO youth choir with which she created operas for children by Jon Appleton and Bruno Coulais. Later, she joined the ensemble of the University of Nice with which she made her first steps as a soloist in Bernstein's Mass. As a soprano who can also sing mezzo roles, she joined the University's Opéra Atelier, performing the roles of Juno, Hippolyta, la baronne de Gondremarck and others. In May 2021, she obtained her Master's degree in classical voice interpretation from the University of Montreal. Since 2007, she has been singing regularly under the direction of Bruno Coulais in recordings of the original soundtracks of among others Coraline and Wendell and Wild.

MIHAI COCEA Viola

Born in Bucharest, Mihai Cocea started the study of violin at 5, later at 13 discovering the wonderful sound of the viola. He attended the National College of Music George Enescu in Bucharest, continued his studies in London, at the Royal Academy of Music. As a soloist, Mihai Cocea performed with several orchestras, among which NOVA Rossia, The Moscow Soloists, and St. Andrews Symphony Orchestra. Among Mihai’s most recent achievements is the recording, together with pianist Oana Zamfir-Cocea, of the viola sonatas by Brahms and Shostakovich. As an orchestra musician, Mihai Cocea was the leader of the Liechtenstein Orchester and co-leader of the St Gallen Symphonic Orchestra, Switzerland. In 2020, Mihai Cocea was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his artistic activity on an international level. Since 2017, Mihai Cocea has been the leader of the viola section with the Brussels Philarmonic Orchestra.

SAMUEL NEMTANU Violin

After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Boris Garlitsky and a Performance Diploma in solo and string quartet at the Chicago Roosevelt University, Samuel Nemtanu was appointed leader of the second violins of the Brussels Philharmonic. Samuel developed his passion for chamber music and founded the Brussels-based Carousel Ensemble, bringing together talents from the most important international stages. He also regularly participates in numerous chamber music concerts. As a result of his commitment to teaching and his instrumental experience he now trains the violinists of the Youth Orchestra of Flanders (YOF). Samuel is also a member of the French orchestra Les Dissonances which performs the symphonic repertoire without a conductor.

Otto Derolez,

VIOLIN → 16

Mark Isham,

TRUMPET → 5

Musicians

Otto Derolez, CONCERTMASTER & SOLOIST

FIRST VIOLIN

Bart Lemmens (2) Olivia Bergeot Annelies Broeckhoven Stefan Claeys Kristina Rimkeviciute Elizaveta Rybentseva Anton Skakun Alissa Vaitsner Cristina Constantinescu Justine Rigutto

SECOND VIOLIN

Samuel Nemtanu (1) Aline Janeczek Mireille Kovac Sayoko Mundy Eline Pauwels Francisco Dourthé Orrego Naoko Ogura Julien Poli Alexis Delporte Nicolás Fernández Manceb Véronique Burstin

VIOLA

Mihai Cocea (1) Griet François (2) Philippe Allard Hélène Koerver Agnieszka Kosakowska Stephan Uelpenich Patricia Van Reusel José-Miguel Freitas Barbara Peynsaert

VIOLONCELLO

Karel Steylaerts (1) Barbara Gerarts Julius Himmler Emmanuel Tondus Sophie Jomard Diego Coutinho

DOUBLE BASS

John Van Lierop (1) Thomas Fiorini Simon Luce Luzia Vieira Daniele Giampaolo Benjamin Heymans

FLUTE

Lieve Schuermans (1) Sarah Miller Jill Jeschek (2)

OBOE

Joris Van den Hauwe (1) Maarten Wijnen Lode Cartrysse (2)

CLARINET

Anne Boeykens (1) Severine Sierens Midori Mori (2)

BASSOON

Karsten Przybyl (1) Alexander Kuksa Jonas Coomans (2)

HORN

Hans van deZanden (1) Luc van den Hove Claudia Rigoni Marlies Callebert Lynn Tijssen Marta Moirera

TRUMPET

Ward Hoornaert (1) William Castaldi Rik Ghesquière Luc Sirjacques

TROMBONE

David Rey (1) Sander Vets Tim Van Medegael (2)

TUBA

Jean Xhonneux (2)

TIMPANI

Gert D'haese (2)

PERCUSSION

Titus Franken (2) Bjorn Denys Gerrit Nulens Stijn Schoofs

PIANO / CELESTA

Anastasia Goldberg (2)

HARP

Primor Sluchin (2)

GUITAR

Inti De Maet (2)

GLOSSARY (1) principal (2) soloist