Bartholomeus-Henri Van de Velde, dynamic founding music director of the Charlemagne Orchestra for Europe, leads the orchestra in acclaimed performances throughout Brussels, Luxembourg and Holland in such venues as the Palais de Beaux-Arts, Théâtre de la Monnaie, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Maestro Van de Velde has enjoyed great success as guest conductor of orchestras around the world, most notably of the Hungarian Philharmonic in Budapest, the National Orchestra of Mexico, the Czech Chamber Orchestra, the Dubna Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Flint Symphony Orchestra and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra in the United States, the Deutsche Kammerakademie, the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Xalapa, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Vojvodina Symphonic Orchestra Serbia and the Slovak Sinfonietta for their 2004 European Tour. In 2008-2009 Maestro Van de Velde led the Nirvana Philharmonic Orchestra in a nationally televised gala in the KBS hall in Seoul, Korea, as well as the Flint Symphony and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic.
From the time of his debut as a conductor, Maestro Van de Velde has collaborated with great artists including Mstislav Rostropovitch, Nobuko Imai, Marie McMaughlin, Iwona Sobotka, Yuzuko Horigome, Olga Pasichnyk, Edna Stern, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Karine Lechner, Sandrine Cantoreggi, Ronald Vanspaendonck, Liviu Prunaru, Veronique Bogaerts, Eugenio Toussaint, and Martin Cousin.
Maestro Van de Velde and the Charlemagne Orchestra have recorded the Tchaikovsky
Serenade for Strings, Shostakovitch’s
Kammersinfonie, and the
Concerto for violin and piano of Mendelssohn with Katchatour Almazian, violin and Martin Cousin, piano for the SONORIS label. The Charlemagne Orchestra was in residence at the 2008 Intermezzo Opera Festival in Bruges, where Maestro Van de Velde led performances of
Die Zauberflöte and the opening Gala Concert and Finals Concert of the Elardo International Opera Competition.
Maestro Van de Velde was selected as a Rolex Artist Ambassador in 2005 and has appeared in the prestigious watchmaker’s print advertising campaign since that time. He added a second Ambassadorship in 2008, that of luxury car manufacturer BMW.
Bartholomeus-Henri Van de Velde began his professional career in music as a violinist in his native Belgium. He studied conducting at The Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors and at the Tanglewood Center for the Arts, with such renowned teachers as Charles Bruck, Seiji Ozawa, Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Jorma Panula, and under the personal direction of Lorin Maazel.
July 2010- Please destroy any previously released version