Dirk Brossé

Dirk Brossé, born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1960, is a multi-faceted composer and a respected conductor on the international music scene.

He began his music studies at the Music Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels. He subsequently specialised in conducting, which he studied in Maastricht, Vienna and Cologne. He was awarded his conducting diploma by the Musikhochschule, in Cologne. Alongside his many guest professorships, he is currently Professor of Composition and Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent.

Dirk Brossé has conducted all the leading Belgian orchestras, among them, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Flemish Opera, and the National Orchestra of Belgium.

Outside his native Belgium, he has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Shanghai, the KBS Symphony Orchestra of South Korea, the World Symphony Orchestra (in Japan), The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Ulster Symphony Orchestra of Northern Ireland, the Camerata St Petersburg, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestras of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, among others.

Dirk Brossé is a versatile and prolific composer. He has written some 200 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works, that have been performed all over the world and have been recorded in more than forty countries. His most important works are: La Soledad de América Latina, written in collaboration with the Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Artesia, a universal symphony for orchestra and ethnic instruments; the ethno-classical symphony The Birth of Music; the oratorio Juanelo; the lieder cycles Landuyt Cycle and La vida es un Sueño; the War Concerto for clarinet and orchestra; and the violin concertos Black, White & in Between and Sophia. Maestro Brossé also has more than sixty CD recordings.

Besides this, Dirk Brossé has composed on numerous occasions for the theatre and the cinema. His best-known soundtracks are Koko Flanel, Licht, Stijn Coninx's de Kavijaks and Daens (Academy Award Nominee, 1993), Marian Handwerker's Marie, Martin Koolhoven's Knetter, and Jaques Feyder's 1925 silent film Visages d'Enfants. He wrote the scores for the musicals Sacco & Vanzetti, The Prince of Africa, Kuifje ? De Zonnetempel ( based on Hergé's world-famous cartoon character Tintin), Rembrandt, the Musical, and Daens, the Musical, each time in close collaboration with Frank Van Laeke.

At the end of 2007, Dirk Brossé made his debut in the Royal Albert Hall, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in "A Night of Music from the Movies," with guest appearances by such renowned actors as Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.

Dirk Brossé has conducted in numerous world-famous concert halls, such as the Koninklijk Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Centre and the Royal Albert Hall in London, De Munt in Brussels, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Seoul Arts Center, the Tokyo Forum, and the Concert Hall Shanghai. He has collaborated with world-class artists such as the singers José Van Dam, Philip Webb, Barbara Hendricks, Claron McFadden, Julia Migenes, Derek Lee Ragin and Guy de Mey, clarinettist Sabine Meyer, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, pianists Philip Fowke, Ian Fountain and Daniel Blumenthal, violinist Salvatore Accardo and, on a broader musical platform, with Toots Thielemans, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Randy Crawford, David Linx, Lisa Gerrard, Mel Brooks, Maurane, Sinead O' Connor, Viktor Lazlo, Maurice Jarre and Yousson' Dour.

Dirk Brossé has been awarded the title "Cultural Ambassador of Flanders" and the Flemish Government's "Gouden Erepenning" award for merit. He is a member of the executive board of the Belgian authors', composers' and publishers' association SABAM, an Advisory Board Member of the independent think tank Itinera Institute and a Board Member of the African Childrens' Choir.

Most recently, Dirk Brossé was also appointed by John Williams as Music Director and Principal Conductor of to the international world tour of "Star Wars: In Concert", which began touring in October 2009.

Maestro Brossé will begin his first season as Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in September 2010.