Philippe Herreweghe
Encyclopedia
Philippe Herreweghe is a Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

.

In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

's accompanist, was his piano teacher. In the same period, he began conducting and in 1970 founded the Collegium Vocale
Collegium Vocale
Collegium Vocale was founded in 1970, one of the top choirs, mainly in the interpretation of the vocal work of J.S. Bach. Collegium Vocale is based in Ghent and was founded, and still directed by Philippe Herreweghe....

 Ghent, and gave up medicine. Very soon Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...

 and Gustav Leonhardt
Gustav Leonhardt
Gustav Leonhardt is a highly renowned Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. Leonhardt has been a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments...

 took notice of his musical approach, and invited him and the Collegium Vocale Ghent to join them in their recordings of the complete Bach cantatas.

Herreweghe's approach to baroque music came to be widely recognised, and in 1977 he founded another ensemble in Paris, La Chapelle Royale
La Chapelle Royale
- History :La Chapelle Royale was founded in 1977 in Paris by the Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe. It takes its name from the Chapelle royale of the French kings....

, to perform the music of the French Golden Age. Since then he has started several other groups and ensembles with whom he managed to create a repertoire stretching from the Renaissance to contemporary music: the Ensemble Vocale Européen, specialised in Renaissance polyphony, and the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées
Orchestre des Champs-Élysées
The Orchestre des Champs-Élysées is an orchestra that specializes in the performance of music from the period from roughly 1750 to the early twentieth century. That is, it covers the period from the flourishing of Haydn to that of Mahler...

, founded in 1991 to bring alive, once again, the repertoire of the romantic and pre-romantic era on original instruments.

He is principally known as a conductor of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

. He is regarded by leading Bach scholars today as a founding father of the baroque authentic practice, original instrument movement and one of record label Harmonia Mundi's most prolific recording artists, with over sixty albums to his name.

As a guest conductor, Philippe Herreweghe has conducted a number of well known orchestras including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Dutch Broadcasting Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. Philippe Herreweghe was artistic director of the Festival of Saintes in 1982 and voted European Musician of the Year in 1990. From 1998 to 2002, Herreweghe was chief conductor of DeFilharmonie (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders), and now holds the title of Hoofddirigent (principal conductor) with the orchestra.

Selected discography

For most of his recording career Herreweghe has been closely associated with Harmonia Mundi of Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz was a French musical publisher, founder of the Harmonia Mundi label....

.
  • Lassus Moduli Quinis Vocibus, 1571 (producer Michel Bernstein
    Michel Bernstein
    Michel Bernstein was a French musical producer and founder of several record labels.Bernstein's first contact with classical music was hearing the school music teacher play Beethoven on an out-of-tune piano at the age of 15, but thereafter he took a lively interest in music and recordings.-...

    ) Astrée 7780, 1979
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

     4 short Masses. Mass in B-Minor. Cantatas BWV39, 73, 93, 105, 107, 131 Virgin Classics 1990,1991.
  • C.P.E. Bach Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, Virgin Classics
  • Brahms
    Johannes Brahms
    Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

    , Ein deutsches Requiem
    Ein deutsches Requiem
    A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...

    , Harmonia Mundi, 1996
  • Mozart, Requiem
    Requiem (Mozart)
    The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...

    , Collegium Vocale and La Chapelle Royale, Harmonia Mundi, 1997
  • Bach, Magnificat
    Magnificat
    The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...

    ,
    La Chapelle Royale, Harmonia Mundi, 1999
  • Bach, St Matthew Passion Collegium Vocale, Harmonia Mundi, 1999
  • Rameau, Les Indes Galantes
    Les Indes galantes
    Les Indes galantes is an opéra-ballet consisting of a prologue and four entrées by Jean-Philippe Rameau with libretto by Louis Fuzelier...

    , La Chapelle Royale, Musique d'Abord, 2000
  • Bach, St John Passion, Collegium Vocale, Harmonia Mundi, 2003
  • Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

    , Symphony No. 9
    Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
    The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...

    , Harmonia Mundi, 2003
  • Morales
    Cristóbal de Morales
    Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Victoria.- Life :...

    , Live @ The V. Sessions, video recording, 2009
  • Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

    , Symphony No. 9
    Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
    The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...

    , Pentatone, 2010
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