After his successful debuts with the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in 2007/08, Ivan Meylemans will conduct these orchestras again during the next seasons. His first cooperation with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in December 2007 led to a spontaneous invitation for a tour to Japan, where Meylemans will replace the orchestra’s leaving chief conductor Andris Nelsons in October 2008. Other re-invitations and debuts will take the artist in 2008/09 to the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Brass, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Concert Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic (RKF), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Dortmund Philhar-monic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (RFO).

 

In 2007 Ivan Meylemans chaired the jury of the Aeolus-Bläserwettbewerb at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and was appointed chief conductor of the Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, one of the leading Belgian chamber ensembles. He conducted the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Orkest van het Oosten, Residentie Orkest The Hague, Zagreb Philharmonic and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg.

 

In 2004/05, Ivan Meylemans was Mariss Jansons’ assistant and cover at the Concertgebouw Orkest, which allowed him to experience many of the great international concert halls such as Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Lucerne, London, Madrid, and Tokyo. He also assisted Herbert Blomstedt and Markus Stenz. He began studying conducting in 1996 at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague under Ed Spanjaard and Jac van Steen. He graduated in 2000 summa cum laude and successfully participated in numerous festivals (World Music Competition, Concours International de Jeunes Chefs d’Orchestre and International Concours Radio France). In September 2002 he won the International Vakhtang Jordania Competition, only two weeks later he was a finalist and third prize winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London, where he conducted Bartok’s Der wunderbare Mandarin with the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, Ivan Meylemans won the Prix de Salon in Amsterdam.

 

Ivan Meylemans was born in Belgium 1971, studied trombone, percussion and piano at the Lemmens Institute of Leuven as well as the Ghent Conservatory. He won numerous competitions and soon became first trombonist at the former BRTN Philharmonic Orchestra, today’s Flemish Radio Orchestra. From 1994 on he was solo trombonist of the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam.

 

2008/09