Bartholomeus-Henri Van de Velde
"A conductor never arrives too early nor too late. A conductor always arrives on time, at the right tempo ! Tempo giusto."
- Charles Bruck
Maestro VAN de VELDE has enjoyed great success as guest conductor of orchestras around the world, most notably the Hungarian Philharmonic in Budapest, the National Orchestra of Mexico, the Czech Chamber Orchestra, the Dubna Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Flint Symphony Orchestra and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra in the United States, the Deutsche Kammerakademie, the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Xalapa, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Vojvodina Symphonic Orchestra Serbia and the Slovak Sinfonietta for their 2004, 2008 and 2012 European Tour, Seoul Philharmonic in Korea, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in China.
The Belgian maestro Bartholomeus-Henri VAN de VELDE is honoured to join the list of world famous conductors who have led the “Orquesta Filharmonica de Buenos Aires”. He was invited to Buenos Aires, Argentina in June 2009 to conduct a concert with the orchestra in the beautiful “Teatro Colón”.
Bartholomeus-Henri VAN de VELDE started his professional career in music as a violinist in his native Belgium. He studied at the famous “Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors” and at the Tanglewood Center for the Arts. In addition, he has studied under the baton of renowned conductors such as: Charles Bruck, Seiji Ozawa, Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Jorma Panula and under the personal direction of Lorin Maazel.
"Stuur de mensen naar huis met een deuntje in hun hoofd."
- Bartholomeus Van de Velde
From the moment of his debut as a conductor, Maestro VAN de VELDE has worked with major artists including: Mstislav Rostropovitch, Nobuko Imai, Yuzuko Horigome, Liviu Prunaru, Olga Pasichnyk, Marie McMaughlin, Edna Stern, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynde, Karine Lechner, Sandrine Cantoreggi, Ronald Vanspaendonck, Véronique Bogaerts, Stephen Salters, Iwona Sobotka, Eugenio Toussaint, Martin Cousin, Liu Fang, Lorenzo Gatto, Maria Gavrilova, and Daniel Blumenthal, Philippe Graffin, Cassandra Zoé Velasco, Marcell Bakonyi, Ryan Gorbil, Tuncay Kurtoglu, Anna Federova, Anna Malikova.
Bartholomeus-Henri VAN de VELDE is the dynamic founder and musical director of the Charlemagne Orchestra. He has led the orchestra in acclaimed performances throughout Brussels, Luxembourg and The Netherlands in venues including the “Palais des Beaux-Arts” and the “Théâtre de la Monnaie” in Brussels, as well as the “Concertgebouw” in Amsterdam. Furthermore, the Charlemagne Orchestra was in residence in the 2008 Intermezzo Opera Festival at Bruges, where Maestro VAN de VELDE led performances of Die Zauberflöte, the opening Gala Concert and the Final Concerts of the Elardo International Opera Competition.
The Charlemagne Orchestra is invited to perform on a regular basis and has henceforth created a new name for itself that encompasses its open view and great heart for Europe: “CHARLEMAGNE ORCHESTRA FOR EUROPE”. This concert season, under his baton, the Brussels-based orchestra of musicians from 27 countries, offered a program chosen by audiences including new and lesser known works from the Classical, Romantic and Contemporary orchestral repertoire.
The Charlemagne Orchestra for Europe continues to foster its great respect for traditional repertoire. Maestro VAN de VELDE and his orchestra recorded the Tchaikovsky Serenade for strings, Shostakovitch’s Kammersinfonie, and the violin and piano concertos of Mendelssohn under the SONORIS label. And many others “live” recordings with the CHARLEMAGNE ORCHESTRA for EUROPE.
Bartholomeus-Henri VAN de VELDE was selected as a ROLEX ambassador Artist in 2005 and was published in the prestigious watchmaker’s print advertising campaign. He was also chosen as an ambassador by the car manufacturer BMW in 2008. More recently, he has been chosen as an ambassador for the car manufacturer JAGUAR.