Dirk Brossé
{{Short description|Belgian conductor and composer}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Knight
| name = Dirk Brossé
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|02|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Ghent, Belgium
| nationality = Belgian
| occupation = * Composer
| era = Contemporary Classical Music
| image =
}}
Dirk, Knight BrosséEtat présent de la noblesse belge 2015, p. 20 (born 18 February 1960, Ghent) is a Belgian conductor and composer. He has composed over 200 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works. Brossé has also composed extensively for stage, cinema, television. His score for the BBC/HBO series Parade's End (2012) was nominated for an Emmy Award. Dirk Brossé is currently music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and of the Ghent Film Festival. John Williams chose him as Principal Conductor of the Star Wars in Concert World Tour. Brossé is also professor of composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. Dirk Brossé has conducted international orchestras, both at home and abroad. Amongst them, the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic orchestra, Vancouver Opera, Opéra National de Lyon, BBC Concert Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Basel, Madrid, Porto, Birmingham, Ulster, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Queensland, St Petersburg, Los Angeles and Boston. In 2008, he made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, at the request of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he wrote The Hallow-e'en Dances. This Halloween-inspired work is especially written for age-old, traditional Chinese instruments. Brossé recently composed Haiku Cycle 1, written for Jessye Norman and based on Haiku by Herman Van Rompuy.
He has made more than 70 CD recordings and has collaborated with artists such as José Van Dam, Barbara Hendricks, Julia Migenes, Claron McFadden, Julian Lloyd Webber, Sabine Meyer, Alison Balsom, Salvatore Accardo, John Williams, Toots Thielemans, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Randy Crawford, Lisa Gerrard, Marcel Khalife, Mel Brooks, Maurane, Sinéad O'Connor, Maurice Jarre, Michel Legrand and Youssou N'Dour. Dirk Brossé has worked with directors Stijn Coninx, Frank Van Laecke, Susanna White and Roland Joffé, and with writers Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Seth Gaaikema and Didier Van Cauwelaert.
Dirk Brossé has been awarded the title Cultural Ambassador of Flanders, the Flemish Parliament's gold medal for Merit, the Achille Van Acker Prize, the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award and the Global Thinkers Forum Award for Excellence in Cultural Creativity. In 2010, Dirk Brossé was made an honorary citizen of Destelbergen. In 2013, he was elevated to Belgium's hereditary nobility, with the personal title of Ridder.
Education
Dirk Brossé's musical studies were initially undertaken at the Royal Music Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels before focusing on conducting studies in Maastricht, Vienna and Cologne, gaining his conducting diploma from the Musikhochschule of Cologne.
Work as conductor
Dirk Brossé has been invited to conduct many of Belgium's major orchestras, including the Flemish Radio Orchestra (VRT), the National Orchestra of Belgium and the European Union Choir (Les Choeurs de l'Union européenne).
Abroad he has conducted the Milan Symphony Orchestra, the Volgograd Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Shanghai, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elgin Orchestra of Chicago, the Camerata St Petersburg, the Ulster Orchestra of Northern Ireland, the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and the National Orchestras of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
In 2001 he started working with The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Symphony Orchestra and The KBS Symphonic Orchestra of Seoul.
In 2009 he started his work with Star Wars: In Concert. In 2008 and 2009 he had guest appearances in The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, where he later debuted as musical director in 2010, succeeding Ignat Solzhenitsyn.
Film and musical works
His works include songs, symphonic works, oratorios, chamber music and music for the theatre and film. Among his 20 distinctive film scores for award-winning films are "Daens" (Academy Award nomination 1993), "When the Light Comes", "A Peasant's Psalm", "Marie" (Nominated Overall Winner in the French Film Section at the Venice Film Festival in 1994) and the classic silent film "Visages d'Enfants".
Artists with whom he has collaborated in performance include clarinetist Sabine Meyer, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, the singers Sinéad O'Connor, Anne Cambier, Guy de Mey, Claron McFadden, Derek Lee Ragin, and, the renowned Hans Zimmer, Toots Thielemans, Howard Shore (for 'The Aviator') and Youssou N'Dour.
Dirk Brossé added a new dimension to the wide range of his oeuvre with his scoring of the musical "Sacco & Vanzetti" commissioned by the Theatre of the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 1996. With 92 critically acclaimed performances in the Netherlands and Belgium, this dramatic study of minority victims in a hyper-patriotic state, is now scheduled to appear on New York's Broadway.
Brossé wrote also the score for the musical based on the world-famous cartoon character "Tintin" created by Hergé, which premiered in September 2001 in Belgium.
Dirk Brossé has been granted the title 'Cultural Ambassador of Flanders'. In 1999 Brossé was invited by the City Council of Shanghai, to conduct the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in performances marking the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In 2013 he received the Global Thinkers Forum 2013 Award for Excellence in Cultural Creativity.
List of works
{{Cleanup|section|reason=Formatting, non-use of wikitable(s), laundry list appearance, unreferenced|date=January 2018}}
= Works for orchestra =
- {{Start date|1986}}-On Safari
- {{Start date|1986}}-7 Inch Framed
- {{Start date|1988}}-Oscar for Amnesty
- {{Start date|1989}}-El Golpe Fatal
- {{Start date|1990}}-Bacob Overture
- {{Start date|1991}}-Music in Mycology
- {{Start date|1992}}-Ouvertura
- {{Start date|1995}}-Flanders International Film Festival Overture
- {{Start date|1995}}-Artesia
- {{Start date|1995}}-Daens Suite
- {{Start date|1996}}-Bit by Bit
- {{Start date|1996}}-Principals
- {{Start date|1996}}-Le Nozze di Sacco
- {{Start date|1997}}-The Birth of Music
- {{Start date|1997}}-Light Main Theme
- {{Start date|1999}}-Millennium Overture
- {{Start date|1999}}-Inferno
- {{Start date|2008}}-Harbour Music
- {{Start date|2010}}-The Hallow-e'en Dances
- {{Start date|2010}}-Philadelphia Overture
- {{Start date|2010}}-La Vie Aquatique
- {{Start date|2010}}-Amore Pedestre
- {{Start date|2014}}-Philadelphia Overture
= Works for soloist(s) and orchestra / string orchestra / string quartet =
- {{Start date|1985}}-Meditation
- {{Start date|1985}}-Meditation
- {{Start date|1992}}-La Soledad de America Latina
- {{Start date|1992}}-La Soledad de America Latina
- {{Start date|1993}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|1995}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|1998}}-Black, White & In Between
- {{Start date|1999}}-Black, White & In Between
- {{Start date|1999}}-The Chinese Wall
- {{Start date|1999}}-The Chinese Wall
- {{Start date|1999}}-Warconcerto
- {{Start date|2000}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|2001}}-Sophia
- {{Start date|2003}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|2004}}-The Circle of Nature
- {{Start date|2010}}-Echoes of Silent Voices
- {{Start date|2012}}-In Motu
- {{Start date|2013}}-Black, White & In Between
- {{Start date|2013}}-Laura's Theme from Singularity
- {{Start date|2014}}-Celloconcerto
- {{Start date|2015}}-'A Portrait of Walter ridder Boeykens'
= Works for string orchestra =
- {{Start date|1996}}-Tango Tout Court
- {{Start date|2002}}-Kaleidoscope
- {{Start date|2003}}-SI-RE
- {{Start date|2011}}-In Memoriam Shostakovich
- {{Start date|2015}}-For the unknown soldier
= Works for voice and piano / small ensemble =
- {{Start date|1987}}-Il Pleure dans mon coeur
- {{Start date|1988}}-Mets ta main dans ma main
- {{Start date|1990}}-Four songs for Tijl & Nele
- {{Start date|1994}}-Landuyt cyclus
- {{Start date|1995}}-La Vida es un Sueño
- {{Start date|1995}}-La Vida es un Sueño
- {{Start date|1995}}-La Vida es un Sueño
- {{Start date|2000}}-Beauty born of violence
- {{Start date|2001}}-More is in thou
- {{Start date|2003}}-I Loved You
- {{Start date|2004}}-Love without End
- {{Start date|2006}}-Live with me and be my Love
- {{Start date|2006}}-Hope from Artesia
- {{Start date|2006}}-Hope from Artesia
- {{Start date|2007}}-Sluit de Keten
- {{Start date|2008}}-Le Jasmin et la Rose
- {{Start date|2011}}-Haiku Cycle 1
- {{Start date|2014}}-De Lust van het Leven
= Works for brass ensemble =
- 1986- Des Sons Animés
- 1987-To(o) MAD
- 1989-Elegy for a lost Friend
- 1991-Prelude To a new Age
- 1991-The Golden Drop Tune
- 1991-The Golden Drop Tune
- 1994-Hymn of Praise from Daens
- 1994-Baroque Music
- 1994-On Safari
- 1995-Ode the Veterans of World War II
- 2007-The Dandi March
= Soundtracks=
- {{Start date|1986}}-Springen, by Jean Pierre De Decker
- {{Start date|1986}}-Marc and Nathalie, by Roland Verhaevert
- {{Start date|1988}}-Visages d'enfants, (1925), by Jaques Feyder
- {{Start date|1988}}-Boerenpsalm, by Roland Verhaevert
- {{Start date|1988}}-Misterie van het Lam, by Frederic Duchau
- {{Start date|1989}}-Koko Flanel, by Stijn Coninx
- {{Start date|1992}}-Daens, by Stijn Coninx
- {{Start date|1993}}-Als het leven een nieuwe wending neemt, by Serge Leurs
- {{Start date|1993}}-Oost-Vlaanderen, schat van een provincie, by Frank Van Laecke
- {{Start date|1993}}-Marie, by Marian Handwerker
- {{Start date|1995}}-A Forest is a Symphony, by WWF
- {{Start date|1997}}-Licht / When the Light comes, by Stijn Coninx
- {{Start date|1998}}-Planckendael koala's, by Stijn Coninx
- {{Start date|2000}}-Mijn eerste Sjeekspier, by Douglas Boswell
- {{Start date|2001}}-Follow me, by Francesca Marti
- {{Start date|2002}}-Music and Fly, by Francesca Marti
- {{Start date|2004}}-Romance, by Douglas Boswell
- {{Start date|2005}}-Knetter, by Martin Koolhoven
- {{Start date|2005}}-The Kavijaks, TV series by Stijn Coninx
- {{Start date|2006}}-Brod Ludaka, by Matthias Lebeer
- {{Start date|2008}}-Samaritan, by Douglas Boswell
- {{Start date|2010}}-La Vie Aquatique, (early 20th century), a silent documentary film
- {{Start date|2010}}-Amore Pedestre, (1914) a silent film by Marcel Fabre
- {{Start date|2012}}-Parade's End, TV series by Susanne White, for BBC/HBO
- {{Start date|2013}}-The Lovers, a feather film by Roland Joffé
- {{Start date|2016}}-Knielen op een bed violen, by Ben Sombogaart
= Choral works =
- {{Start date|1989}}-Sanctus
- {{Start date|2003}}-Cogito, Ergo Sum
- {{Start date|2007}}-The American Dream
= Works for symphonic wind band =
- {{Start date|1986}}-7 Inch Framed
- {{Start date|1988}}-Oscar for Amnesty
- {{Start date|1989}}-El Golpe Fatal
- {{Start date|1989}}-Elegy for a lost Friend
- {{Start date|1992}}-March for Justice from 'Daens'
- {{Start date|1992}}-La Soledad de America Latina
- {{Start date|1992}}-Music for a Celebration
- {{Start date|1995}}-And the winner is...
- {{Start date|1997}}-Light Main Theme
- {{Start date|1999}}-Warconcerto
- {{Start date|1999}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|2000}}-Milestone Overture
- {{Start date|2002}}-Tintin – Prisoners of the Sun
- {{Start date|2007}}-Il Signor Brossini
- {{Start date|2009}}-Musical Daens Suite
- {{Start date|2009}}-Gandhi
- {{Start date|2011}}-Philadelphia Overture
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Bagdad
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Kampala
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Machu Picchu
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Buenes Aires
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Beijing
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Benares
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Vienna
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Petra
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from Chernobyl
- {{Start date|2011}}-Postcard from the Arctic
- {{Start date|2014}}-14-18, suite for Symphonic Wind Band
= Works for musicals =
- 1989-Burger Übermensch
- 1996-Sacco & Vanzetti
- 2001-Tintin – Prisoners of the Sun
- 2002-The Prince of Africa
- 2005-Rembrandt
- 2007-Musical Daens
- 2011-Musical Ben X
- 2014-Musical Pauline & Paulette
- 2014-Musical 14-18
- 2014-The Last Friend of Napoleon
- 2015-The Story of Sacco & Vanzetti
= Works for voice(s) and orchestra / string orchestra =
- {{Start date|1994}}-Landuyt Cyclus, Lyrics: Elie Saegeman (Dutch)
- {{Start date|1995}}-Vredeslied, Lyrics : Dirk Brossé
- {{Start date|1995}}-La Vida es un Sueño, Lyrics : Pedro Calderón de la Barca / Imelda Schrooyen (Spanish)
- {{Start date|2000}}-Juanelo, Charles V Oratorio (2000), Lyrics : Elie Saegeman (English)
- {{Start date|2000}}-Beauty born of Violence, Lyrics : Stephen Smith (English)
- {{Start date|2001}}-X-cellent Love, Lyrics : M. Morton (English)
- {{Start date|2002}}-Homeland, Lyrics : Lorraine Feather / Frank Van Laecke (English)
- {{Start date|2003}}-I Loved You, Lyrics: Alexander Puchkin (English)
- {{Start date|2004}}-Love without End, Lyrics: Lorraine Feather (English)
- {{Start date|2008}}-Le Jasmin et la Rose, Lyrics: Jo Lemaire (French)
- {{Start date|2013}}-The Vale of Years
- {{Start date|2013}}-Vocalise from Parade's End
- {{Start date|2014}}-Haiku Cycle 1, Lyrics: Herman Van Rompuy (English)
- {{Start date|2015}}-How to make a Dadaist Poem, Lyrics: Tristan Tsara (English)
- {{Start date|2015}}-I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier (2015), Lyrics: Alfred Bryan (English)
- {{Start date|2015}}-Pace
- {{Start date|2015}}-Bless them All, Lyrics: Herwig Deweerdt (English)
= Works for theatre =
- {{Start date|1983}}-Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler
- {{Start date|1990}}-Till Eulenspiegel by Charles de Coster
- {{Start date|1991}}-In The Summer House by Jane Bowles
- {{Start date|1991}}-Rembrandt oh Rembrandt by Patrick Van De Walle for theatre Exces
=Works for ensemble / chamber music =
- {{Start date|1996}}-Tango Tout Court
- {{Start date|2002}}-The Chinese Wall
- {{Start date|2009}}-Earth Walk I, II & III
- {{Start date|2009}}-Gipsy from The Birth of Music
- {{Start date|2009}}-Beyond Perception from The Birth of Music
- {{Start date|2009}}-Homeland
- {{Start date|2009}}-La Soledad from La Soledad de America Latina
- {{Start date|2009}}-City Lights from The Birth of Music
- {{Start date|2014}}-Terra Incognita
= Instrumental works =
- {{Start date|1986}}-Andante Malinconico
- {{Start date|1988}}-Epiloque, from Boerenpsalm
- {{Start date|1989}}-On his Own, from Koko Flanel
- {{Start date|1993}}-Le Voyage Imaginaire
- {{Start date|1993}}-Le Voyage Imaginaire
- {{Start date|1994}}-Bis
- {{Start date|1997}}-Ellen's Confession from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|1997}}-Lars' Theme from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|1998}}-Flying...as a bird
- {{Start date|1998}}-Black, White & In Between
- {{Start date|1999}}-Warconcerto
- {{Start date|1999}}-Elegy
- {{Start date|2000}}-Tango Tout Court
- {{Start date|2001}}-Sophia
- {{Start date|2004}}-Let's Chime the Bells
- {{Start date|2005}}-La Soledad from La Soledad de America Latina
- {{Start date|2010}}-Echoes of Silent Voices
- {{Start date|2014}}-African Loop
= Works for piano solo=
- {{Start date|1995}}-To my Secret Inspiration
- {{Start date|1997}}-Lars the Trapper from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|1997}}-Snowfun from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|1997}}-Ellen's Theme from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|1997}}-Light Love Theme from When the Light Comes
- {{Start date|2000}}-Broken Dream
- {{Start date|2006}}-Secret Inspirations – Book I
- {{Start date|2006}}-Fifth Avenue
- {{Start date|2009}}-Hommage à Frédéric Chopin
- {{Start date|2011}}-7 Nocturnes
- {{Start date|2012}}-In Motu
Awards and nominations
- {{Start date|1986}}-CIAM Price for Best Filmscore – Belgium (Ghent)
- {{Start date|1992}}-Academy Award Nomination for 'Daens' (Los Angeles)
- {{Start date|1995}}-Cultural Ambassador of Flanders (Brussels)
- {{Start date|2000}}-'Torenwachterprijs' by the City of Ghent (Ghent)
- {{Start date|2006}}-Nominated for Dutch Musical Awards for 'Tin – Temple of the Sun' (Amsterdam)
- {{Start date|2008}}-Awarded with the 'Achiel Van Acker Award 2008' – Belgium (Bruges)
- {{Start date|2008}}-Awarded by the Belgian Government 'Gouden Erepenning' for merit (Brussels)
- {{Start date|2009}}-Flemish Musical Award for 'Musical Daens' (Antwerp)
- {{Start date|2010}}-Awarded with the 'Joseph Plateau Honorary Award' (Ghent)
- {{Start date|2010}}-Honorary citizen of Destelbergen-Belgium (Destelbergen)
- {{Start date|2011}}-Barrymore Theater Award (2011) for L' Histoire du Soldat / Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
- {{Start date|2013}}-Award for Excellence in Cultural Creativity by Global Thinkers Forum (Athens)
- {{Start date|2013}}-Elevated to Belgium's hereditary nobility, with the personal title of Knight (Brussels)
- {{Start date|2013}}-Emmy Award nomination for the music for the series Parade's End / BBC/HBO (Los Angeles)
- {{Start date|2014}}-'Gouden Label Muziektheater' by Klassiek Centraal for 'Musical 14-18' (Belgium)
- {{Start date|2016}}-Golden Calf nomination for the soundtrack Knielen (Holland)
References
External links
- {{IMDb name|0112545}}
- [http://www.dirkbrosse.be/index.php/biography/biography/ Official site]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brosse, Dirk}}
Category:20th-century Belgian classical composers
Category:21st-century Belgian composers
Category:21st-century Belgian classical composers
Category:Belgian film score composers
Category:Belgian male film score composers
Category:Belgian male conductors (music)
Category:Members of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts
Category:20th-century Belgian conductors (music)
Category:21st-century Belgian conductors (music)
Category:20th-century Belgian male musicians