National Orchestra of Belgium

Orchestre National de Belgique Nationaal Orkest van België
Origin	Brussels, Belgium
Occupations	Symphony orchestra
Years active	1936-present
Website	www.nob.be
Members
Music Director Walter Weller
Past members
Founder Désiré Defauw

National Orchestra of Belgium logo

The Nationaal Orkest van België (NOB, Flemish) or Orchestre National de Belgique (ONB, French) is the oldest of two major orchestras now in Belgium, along with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège.

The Orchestra was founded in 1931 by Désiré Defauw as the Brussels Symphony Orchestra, and later reorganized in 1936 into it present form.^{[citation needed]} With its base in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels and subsidized by the Belgian government, the ONB 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 scores. In 2003, contestants in the final round of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition were accompanied by the orchestra, under the direction of Gilbert Varga.

Prior to the 1958 appointment of André Cluytens as its music director and permanent conductor, the NOB worked with various conductors including Karl Böhm, Désiré Defauw, Erich Kleiber, and Pierre Monteux. The orchestra's current music director is Walter Weller, since 2007. He is scheduled to step down from the post in 2012 and to take the title of Honorary Conductor. In September 2010, the NOB announced the appointment of Andrey Boreyko as its next music director, effective with the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.^[1]

Music directors

• 1958-1967 André Cluytens
• 1969-1971 Michael Gielen
• 1974-1975 André Vandernoot
• 1975-1989 Georges Octors
• 1983-1989 Mendi Rodan
• 1989-1993 Ronald Zollman
• 1994-2002 Yuri Simonov
• 2002-2007 Mikko Franck
• 2007-present Walter Weller

References

1. ^ "Top Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko to be Music Director of the NOB from 2012-13" (Press release). National Orchestra of Belgium. 21 September 2010. http://www.nob.be/en/actu.html?id=74. Retrieved 2010-12-23. 

External links

• Orchestre National de Belgique official website