The Belgian National Orchestra (, ) is a Belgian orchestra, based in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Its principal concert venue is the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts ( BOZAR). The orchestra also gives concerts outside Brussels in such cities as Sankt-Vith and

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

History

The orchestra was founded in 1931 by Désiré Defauw as the Brussels Symphony Orchestra, and later reorganized in 1936 into its present form. With its base in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels and subsidized by the Belgian government, the BNO performs 70 concerts each season in Belgium and abroad, employing 96 musicians. It specializes in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s. In 2003, contestants in the final round of the

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition (, ) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1 ...

were accompanied by the orchestra, under the direction of

Gilbert Varga Gilbert Varga (born 1952, London) is a British-Hungarian conductor. He studied violin from the age of four with his father, Tibor Varga, a famous Hungarian violinist and conductor. After an accident brought an abrupt halt to a promising solo ca ...

. Before the 1958 appointment of

André Cluytens Augustin Zulma Alphonse "André" Cluytens (, ; 26 March 19053 June 1967)Baeck E. ''André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre.'' Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009. was a Belgian-born French conducting, conductor who was active in the conce ...

as its music director and permanent conductor, the NOB worked with various conductors including Désiré Defauw,

Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz, St ...

, Erich Kleiber, and

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

. In February 2016, the NOB announced the appointment of Hugh Wolff as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. Wolff is scheduled to stand down as chief conductor at the close of the 2021–2022 season, and subsequently to take the title of ''dirigent emeritus'' (conductor emeritus) for two seasons. In June 2019, Antony Hermus first guest-conducted the orchestra. Hermus returned for an additional guest-conducting appearance in October 2020. In July 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Hermus as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2022–2023 season, with an initial contract of four seasons. In September 2021, the orchestra announced the appointments of

Michael Schønwandt Michael Detlev Schønwandt (born 10 September 1953 in Frederiksberg) is a Danish conductor. In Denmark, he studied piano, theory, and composition, and later continued musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Biography In 1979, Sc ...

as its new associate conductor, and of Roberto González-Monjas as its new principal guest conductor. In May 2024, Bob Permentier became ''Intendant'' (general manager) of the orchestra.

Music directors and principal conductors

(1958–1967) * Michael Gielen (1969–1971) * André Vandernoot (1974–1985) * Georges Octors (1985–1989) * Mendi Rodan (1983–1989) * Ronald Zollman (1989–1993) * Yuri Simonov (1994–2002) * Mikko Franck (2002–2007) * Walter Weller (2007–2012) *

Andrey Boreyko Andrey Boreyko (, ; born 22 July 1957) is a Polish people, Polish-Russian conductor. Biography Boreyko has Polish ancestry on his father's side and Russian ancestry on his mother's side. Boreyko was born in Saint Petersburg. At the Rimsky-Korsa ...

(2012–2017) * Hugh Wolff (2017–2022) * Antony Hermus (2022–present)

References

External links

Official website of the Belgian National Orchestra
{{Authority control Belgian orchestras

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Musical groups established in 1936 1936 establishments in Belgium Musical groups from Brussels