Classical Music Trends in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg

w/ Anneke Jansen (Ensemble Asko Schoenberg Amsterdam), Gunther Broucke (Philharmonic Orchestra Brussels), Hendrik Storme (De Singel Antwerp), Stephan Gehmacher (Philharmonic society of Luxembourg), Renaud Loranger (Artists and Repertoire Pentatone) and moderated by Eric Denut (consultant for Maestro Arts/Universal Music Publishing & former Delegate for Music at the French Ministry of Culture)

As part of (From) Home Export Days, a recent series of online events, Le Bureau Export| CNM presents “Classical Music Trends in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg ” - a focus on Benelux markets.

Our guests will talk about the difficulties that they encountered, facing the sanitary crisis, as well as the solution that they brought. They will then discuss the cultural changes in those three countries.

• Anneke Jansen, Ensemble Asko Schoenberg Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

Anneke Jansen (1976) studied Modern Dutch Literature and Theatre at the University of Utrecht. After working as an editor, she started as programme coordinator for literary festivals, stages & cultural events, advisor and dramaturg. In 2006 she co-founded the Amsterdam Fringe Festival which evolved into an important independent platforms for cross-over performing arts in the Netherlands. Since 2017 she is the general manager of the Amsterdam based Asko|Schönberg ensemble, one of the leading ensembles for new music. Quality, experimentation and innovative programming with an eye on current events are our important values within the ensemble.

• Gunther Broucke, Philharmonic Orchestra Brussels (Belgium)

In 1998, Gunther Broucke started as Artistic Director of the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Flemish Radio Choir: the newly independent ensembles of the public broadcasting company. He helped put into practice a number of initiatives to convert the former studio ensembles into fully fledged concert ensembles.

In September 2003 he was appointed Intendant. He brought about the return of the ensembles to the renowned Flagey building in Brussels, where the ensembles once started together with the public broadcasting company. He changed the name of the orchestra to Brussels Philharmonic and steadily led the ensembles towards national and international fame. Gunther Broucke has since then led the organisation in several groundbreaking and forward-looking initiatives. In 2017, he was rewarded for this with the Public Manager Of the Year award.

• Hendrik Storme, De Singel Antwerp (Belgium)

"I am currently general and artistic director of the International Arts Center deSingel in Belgium, the largest multidisciplinary art center in Flanders presenting and producing classical music, theatre, dance and architecture at the highest international standards. Before I have been at the helm of the Klarafestival for 10 years, the Brussels leg of the Festival of Flanders. Under my leadership the Klarafestival has gained a strong international reputation as an open-minded and adventurous, cosmopolitan music festival. As co-founder of the B'Rock Orchestra in 2005, I have also been at the head of this orchestra for over 15 years until the summer of 2020. B'Rock has grown from a small scale baroque ensemble to a flexible period orchestra touring around the world, well known also for sparking a vibrant dialogue between music and other art forms. The orchestra has commissioned new works for period instruments and has collaborated with thought-provoking figures in the musical and theatrical worlds.

• Stephan Gehmacher, Philharmonic society of Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

After studying law at the universities of Vienna and Dijon, Stephan Gehmacher worked for six years as concert manager for the Salzburg Festival before becoming Sir Simon Rattle's personal assistant in 2001.

From 2001 to 2008, he was in charge of the artistic programming of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2008, he was hired by Mariss Jansons as director of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischer Rundfunks.

Since August 2013, Stephan Gehmacher has served as Managing Director of the Philharmonic Society and the Philharmonic Orchester of Luxembourg. He is regularly requested by various cultural institutions, such as Radio France and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, as jury member and advisor.

He has been a member of the board of directors of the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg since 2005 and of the Alban Berg Foundation in Vienna since 2017. Since 2013, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EME Ecouter pour Mieux s'Entendre Foundation. He became its vice-chairman in November 2020.

• Renaud Loranger, Artists and Repertoire Pentatone (The Netherlands)

Renaud Loranger was appointed Vice President for Artists and Repertoire at PENTATONE in 2016, and has since overseen a vast expansion of the label's roster and international activities. Artists signed during his tenure include Vladimir Jurowski, Piotr Beczala, Alisa Weilerstein, Magdalena Kožená, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Thomas Hampson, René Jacobs and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Prior to that, he was Executive Producer in the Artists and Repertoire division at Deutsche Grammophon starting in 2011. He oversaw opera productions and recordings of such vocal luminaries as Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Piotr Beczala, Franco Fagioli and Bryn Terfel, as well as conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Following a stint with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) under the leadership of Kent Nagano, he was an assistant to Patrice Chéreau on Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Metropolitan Opera, and relocated to Berlin in 2010.

He became Artistic Director of the Festival de Lanaudière in November 2018.

• Jerome Giersé Director of Bozar (Belgium)

Jérôme Giersé was born in 1980 in Brussels. After a license in Romance Languages ​​and Literatures, focused on the relations between music and literature, he joined the organ class of Jean Ferrard at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He was then taught by Benoît Mernier at the Institute of Music and Pedagogy in Namur.

He trained in interpretation, improvisation and basso continuo. In 2007, he joined the BOZAR MUSIC team as a programmer and producer of the "Music and Poetry" series. He signed 18 new shows between 2007 and 2012, bringing together musicians, poets, actors, dancers and composers on the stage of the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Since 2009, he is responsible for the artistic programming of early music concerts. He was appointed Deputy Artistic Director of BOZAR MUSIC in 2011. In 2014, he joined the Belgian association Music Fund and began a sailing trip around the world for the benefit of musicians supported by the association in Morocco, in DRC, Haiti and Mozambique. Back in Belgium in October 2019, after 5 years of navigation, he rejoined the BOZAR team as Cross-functional Artistic Coordinator. This function allowed him to consolidate the transversal vision of BOZAR, to create links between disciplines and to support the various departments in the development of a cultural vision in line with the challenges of today. In September 2020, he was appointed Director of BOZAR MUSIC.

Le Bureau Export | CNM

Since 1993, Le Bureau Export has worked to develop popular and classical music made in France on an international scale. Thanks to financial resources from both professional and institutional partners, Le Bureau Export has built a worldwide network aimed at facilitating exchanges between French and foreign music professionals.Since November 1, 2020, Le Bureau Export has been part of le Centre national de la musique (CNM), a French state organization under the supervision of the French Ministry of Culture. Among the missions of the CNM, one is to help the French music and variety shows industry developing abroad. The CNM is taking on and aims to further the activities, funding programmes and services of Le Bureau Export.