DeFilharmonie

deFilharmonie (also known as the Koninklijke Filharmonie van Vlaanderen, English translation as the Royal Flemish Philharmonic) is a Belgian symphony orchestra that is based out of te Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. Since the organization operates under the auspices of the government of Flanders, it is considered one of the most important carriers of culture in the region. Since its birth in 1956, deFilharmonie therefore considers it its duty to reach the biggest possible audience and move them with a classic and contemporary repertoire. To do that, the orchestra tours through Europe and Asia but also performs regularly in several venues in Flanders:

Besides their regular concert programme, deFilharmonie spends a lot of its time educating kids and young people about classical music and has started projects to reach more vulnerable groups in society.

The orchestra has recorded on the A-list, Belgian Boutique, Hyperion, Naïve and Phi labels.

deFilharmonie places itself in a long tradition of philharmonic associations in Antwerp and ever growing processes of democratization in music. The Société Royale d’Harmonie d’Anvers can be seen as one of its earliest predecessors. This association was founded in 1814 and had more members than any other music association in Antwerp at the time. It’s mission was to improve the moral wellbeing of the cities inhabitants through classical music. However many people remained excluded from teir concerts.

More directly, the roots of deFilharmonie can be traced back to the Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde (The Antwerp Royal Society for Zoology or KMDA). In 1895 this association came up with the idea to organise Zoo concerts. To do that a special multipurpose hall was built. This hall is better known today as the Queen Elisabeth Hall and has become a safe haven for deFilharmonie

After the Second World War most music associations had disappeared and many concert halls had been destroyed. This left musicians with very limited options as to where they could perform. Even in the fifties it was difficult to get together a group of musicians and find suitable concert halls. In Antwerp, there was only one professional orchestra: the orchestra of the Vlaamse Opera (Royal Flemish Opera). Gaston Ariën, the founder of deFilharmonie, dreamt of bringing together a fulltime symphonic orchestra with its own concert space. Together with Jef Maes and Steven Candael, Ariën decided to establish an orchestra after the National Orchestra of Belgium. On November 12th 1955 De Philharmonie was born. Finding a place to concert and practice remained a challenge for many years. The only stage that was big enough for a symphonic orchestra was the concert hall of the KMDA. However in 1958 this hall closed down for renovations.

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Wikipedia