Instrument: viola, soloist
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 2004
What is your favourite piece to play?
I obviously have several, but I think Shostakovich's Violin Sonata, his last work composed on his deathbed, is such a powerful piece. On the one hand, he struggles with his emotions concerning the regime where he was oppressed, but on the other, he reflects on his mortality and simply his humanness.
Out of orchestral work, I like to play Sibelius' Fifth Symphony.
Why did you choose your instrument?
As a nine-year-old, I started taking violin lessons with my brother. My eldest brother was already doing violin and my sister cello. After the first violin lesson, I came home and said to my mother, ‘I don't like it, much too high and blaring!’ By chance that year, viola lessons were being organised by violist Marc Claes. After my first lesson with him, I was immediately sold by its warm and melancholic sound.
What is your most memorable concert with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
The concert we played in Bruges, sometime in 2008, with Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Anna Vinnitskaya. She lifted the level of the orchestra and the whole hall went wild!
What do you do besides being a musician with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I write poetry, organise my own chamber music concerts and now I am going to start my own ensemble. I will work with very different instrumentations such as viola, saxophone and four male voices where I want to deal with the theme ‘life/death’ and a project with viola, piano and two dancers where I want to chart psychiatry as a theme (‘no, I'm not crazy, I am who I am’) and so many other ideas. I also teach violin and viola at the music academy. It is so fascinating to assist children and adults on their musical journey and to see them grow as a person.
I am also in training to become a Merkaba healer. Merkaba is a teaching from Atlantis and ancient Egypt. It is a light body activated by unconditional love that enables you to reach higher forms of consciousness. This allows you to purify and heal yourself from trauma.
In my spare time, I walk in nature. That's where I unwind. And I am a full-time mum of three sons whom I guide through their adolescent years and bring them into contact with the invisible, beyond the material we see.
Instrument: viola, tutti
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 1997
Why did you choose your instrument?
I liked its warm timbre and its middle register.
What is your fondest memory of Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
When I could coach SOV-Young: their fervour and enthusiasm reminded me of my own time in the Symphonic Youth Orchestra where, among other things, we played masterpieces by Stravinsky with 11- to 20-year-olds.
What do you do besides being a musician with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I teach violin and viola in Bruges. I also like to bake and cook and try to be as healthy and fit as possible by eating healthy, walking and doing pilates and yoga.
When is a concert considered successful for you?
When we perform our very best together (and of course receive praise from the audience).
Instrument: viola, tutti
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 1993
Why did you choose your instrument?
Diederik Suys persuaded me to switch from violin to viola. The sound register appealed to me more.
Who is your favourite composer and why?
Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Bizet, because of their brilliant orchestrations.
Do you have a ritual before you go on stage?
I always put my reading glasses ready before the rehearsal or concert and only sit down when the last lady of our group is seated.
What is your most memorable concert with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
The concerts led by German-American conductor Andreas Delfs where we played Brahms' Second Symphony and Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Enrico Pace as soloist.
Instrument: cello, first soloist
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 1987
What do you do besides being a musician at Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I teach cello and double bass at the Conservatory of Kortrijk and am also care coordinator there. I also play freelance double bass and chamber music. I am married to an amateur clarinettist who plays in an amateur symphony orchestra and is its president. My two sons have since grown up. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and sewing.
What is your fondest memory of Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
Flanders Symphony Orchestra's subsidies were in danger of disappearing a few years ago. We then played Dvořák's New World Symphony in DE SINGEL as if our lives depended on it.
When is a concert considered successful for you?
When we can convey the emotions of the music to the audience!
Instrument: cello, tutti
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 2016
Why did you choose your instrument?
I come from a musical family so in my childhood there was a lot of music playing at home. At the age of four I started learning the violin, but I only did this for a year or so because it did not suit me. My father is a clarinet teacher and it was his idea to go and listen to public exams at the music school when I had to choose an instrument after a year of solfège. Cello jumped out immediately! I think the choice of your instrument is sometimes coincidental, but also has a lot to do with your character and the colours and tones that attract you.
Who is your favourite composer and why?
Johann Sebastian Bach: he created such wonderful music like his passions, cantatas and our cello bible the Six Cello Suites. It is so well put together and yet at the same time his oeuvre has a very great naturalness and humanness.
What is your fondest memory of Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I think the tours (to England, Estonia...) that we do are the best moments. They are tiring days because of the travelling, but being together, eating and making music, strengthens the bond between the musicians.
What is your most memorable concert with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
We have been guests at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw a few times. Each time, this was really enjoyable.
Instrument: cello, tutti
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 2023
What is your favourite piece to play?
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is one of those pieces I never get tired of, but my absolute favourite is probably Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.
Who is your favourite composer and why?
Igor Stravinsky, because his creativity is endless. Every piece of his music is fantastic in a different way. I never tire of his music. My second favourite is Gustav Mahler because of the depth and intensity in his music. It's hard to find that anywhere else.
What is your fondest memory of Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
The first project I was allowed to participate in: Mozart's Requiem. It was a nice production with lots of concerts and fantastic music.
What do you always bring to rehearsals?
I always try to bring my good mood. And a pencil.
Instrument: bass, first soloist
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 2003
What is your most memorable concert with Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I will never forget Brahms' Fourth Symphony with conductor Seikyo Kim. And being on stage together with my wife as the singer in Mahler's Lied von der Erde was very special to me.
Who is your favourite composer?
That is a very difficult question, but if I have to choose I will go for Johannes Brahms. His symphonies, piano concertos, violin concerto, requiem, but also certainly his chamber and piano music show such deep sensitivity and inner strength that I am always blown away when I hear or play his music.
But as I write this down, I already feel uneasy that I am selling Mahler, Janáček, R. Strauss, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Sibelius and so many others short.
What do you do besides being a musician at Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
I teach double bass and chamber music at the Royal Brussels Conservatory, and I am double bassist and artistic coordinator of the Oxalys ensemble. Time for hobbies is unfortunately limited, but I spend the little time I have restoring my vintage car, tasting whisky and playing squash.
Do you have a ritual before going on stage?
Not really, but in the bass group it is a ritual to bring a chocolate waffle for our colleagues during long rehearsals.
Instrument: double bass, soloist
With Flanders Symphony Orchestra since: 1990
Who is your favourite composer?
For orchestral music Sibelius and for chamber music Schubert. Both give enormous possibilities of imagination, a kind of freedom of imagination.
What is your fondest memory of Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
The concerts where I came off stage with the feeling that we all completely went for it as one. I often had that feeling under the baton of David Agnus. During those concerts, there was great contact with the audience.
What do you do besides being a musician at Flanders Symphony Orchestra?
Windsurfing is an important hobby for me. Those moments when the elements of wind, water and waves demand all your attention clear my head and get all my muscles moving. I also enjoy discussing pedagogy with colleagues. Besides playing music, that is the other half of my income.
When is a concert considered successful for you?
When there is response from the audience. Usually you just feel how quietly and intently the audience starts to listen to a good performance. That is a very different feeling from when they are silent out of politeness, without really experiencing anything.