Het Brabants Orkest (literal translation, The Brabant Orchestra, also known as ''The Europa Orchestra'') was a Dutch symphony orchestra, based in the province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...

. Its principal concert venue was the Muziekgebouw Frits Philips in Eindhoven. The orchestra also gave concerts at the ''Theater aan de Parade'' in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

, the ''Concertzaal'' (Concert Hall) in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, and the Chassé Theatre in Breda. The roots of the orchestra date to 1947, with the establishment of the ''Stichting Vrienden van het Orkest'' (Friends' Orchestra Foundation) by the province of North Brabant, to generate support for the formation of a full-time and full-sized symphony orchestra in the province. The full orchestra was formally established in 1949, at a size of 40 musicians, with Hein Jordans as its first chief conductor. Jordans held the chief conductorship from 1949 to 1979. Other chief conductors have included Lucas Vis (1979-1983),

André Vandernoot André Vandernoot (born 2 June 1927, Brussels; died 6 November 1991, Brussels) was a Belgian conductor. He studied at the Royal Music Conservatory in Brussels, and later flute and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik, Vienna. In 1951, he was ...

, and

Arpad Joó Árpád Joó (8 June 1948 – 4 July 2014) was a Hungarian American conductor and concert pianist. Early life Maestro Joó (pronounced: Yo) was born in Budapest in 1948. His grandmother was an eminent pupil of István Thomán, at the Franz Lis ...

. In 1994, the orchestra dismissed Joó and subsequently named

Marc Soustrot Marc Soustrot (born 15 April 1949) is a French classical conductor. He was the music director of the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire from 1976 to 1994, and from 1995 to 2003 GMD of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn which plays in both opera ...

its next chief conductor. However, controversy arose when the orchestra had appointed

Jaap van Zweden Jaap van Zweden (; born 12 December 1960) is a Dutch conductor and violinist. He is currently music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and of the New York Philharmonic, and music director-designate of the Seoul Philharmonic. ...

as principal guest conductor, to the point where Soustrot had threatened not to take the chief conductorship because he did not feel sufficiently consulted on the van Zweden appointment. The controversy was resolved, and Soustrot served as chief conductor of the orchestra from 1996 to 2006. From 2008 to 2012, Alan Buribayev was the orchestra's chief conductor. The orchestra participated as accompanying ensemble in the ''Internationaal Vocalisten Concours'', concerts of the ''Stichting Stabat Mater'' in Oirschot, "Carnaval Concerts", the ''Festival Cult & Tumult'' in

Veldhoven Veldhoven () is a municipality and town on the Gender in the southern Netherlands, just southwest of Eindhoven. Topography Dutch topographic map of Veldhoven (town), Dec. 2013 Population centres The modern town of Veldhoven is an agglomerat ...

and the "Festival Traces" in Tilburg. The orchestra also served as the accompanying ensemble in opera productions by ''Opera Zuid''. Following elimination of government grants, ''Het Brabants Orkest'' merged in April 2013 with the '' Limburgs Symfonie Orkest'' to form the ''

South Netherlands Philharmonic South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

''.

Chief conductors

* Hein Jordans (1949–1979) * Lucas Vis (1979–1983) * André Vandernoot * Arpad Joó (?–1994) * Marc Soustrot (1996–2006) * Alan Buribayev (2008–2012)

References

External links

Official Het Brabants Orkest homepage

Het Brabants Orkest Dutch-language page on history of the orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brabants Orkest Dutch orchestras Symphony orchestras Disbanded orchestras 1949 establishments in the Netherlands 2013 disestablishments in the Netherlands Musical groups established in 1949 Musical groups disestablished in 2013 Musical groups from North Brabant History of North Brabant