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Martyn Brabbins

Royal Flemish Philharmonic

British conductor Martyn Brabbins has been appointed as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (deFilharmonie) for a four-year period (2009-2013) from September 2009 onwards. The collaboration will lead among others to a series of recordings for the prestigious British classical record label Hyperion, as well as a number of innovative concert formulas. Martyn Brabbins will fulfil an important, complementary role, in addition to the collaboration between Chief Conductor Jaap van Zweden and Principal Conductor Philippe Herreweghe.

The Royal Flemish Philharmonic welcomed Martyn Brabbins as a guest conductor for the first time in October 2005. In the frame of the Music@venture Festival, Brabbins conducted a concert featuring music by Param Vir, Jonathan Harvey and Olivier Messiaen. In 2007 and 2008, he once again collaborated with the orchestra, conducting programmes featuring modern and contemporary music. Both the conductor and the orchestra alike enjoyed this stimulating and utterly inspiring collaboration.

Brabbins is one of the leading and most versatile British conductors of his generation. He started his career as a conductor in Saint Petersburg, as a student with Ilya Musin. After winning first prize at the Leeds Conductors' Competition, his career took off. Since then, he has worked with Britain’s most prominent orchestras, and has been invited to guest by various international top orchestras and opera houses. In addition to his regular orchestra and opera repertory, Martyn Brabbins is very much in demand as a conductor of contemporary music. His marked interest in the unknown romantic repertory is characteristic of his musical curiosity. This preference is reflected in his comprehensive discography.

The Royal Flemish Philharmonic will use Brabbins’ expertise for the traditional concert programme, as well as for a series of innovative concert formulas and musical-cultural projects. The emphasis in the collaboration is on the willingness to expand the orchestra’s symphonic repertory and to reinforce the Royal Flemish Philharmonic’s international character.