Ivan Meylemans *

Conductors

"I was impressed by his technical ability, his powers of communication to the orchestra, his natural authority and the clarity of his musical ideas." Bernard Haitink


2007 marked a major turning point in Ivan Meylemans’ career; he decided to end his 13-year career as a trombone soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to fully dedicate his time to his advancing career as a conductor. He became assistant of Mariss Jansons, chief-conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and rejoined this orchestra on all their major European, American and Asiatic tours. Meylemans also assisted other renowned conductors like Herbert Blomstedt and Markus Stenz. He has conducted this orchestra on several occasions, among other in a concert for the crowning celebrations of the Dutch King Willem Alexander in April 2013.

From 2007 to 2012 Ivan Meylemans has been appointed chief-conductor of Het KamerOrkest Bruges, one of the few remaining chamber ensembles that has established an acknowledged and renowned place amongst the specialised chamber orchestras of Belgium. In December 2013 he became chief-conductor of the Harmony Orchestra Sint Michaël in Thorn. With fanfare Kempenbloei Achel he won the world title in the Concert Division, for the 2nd consecutive year at the WMC Kerkrade.

Today, Ivan Meylemans has been much in demand as a guest conductor for famous national and international chamber and symphony orchestras. Recent seasons he made debuts with a.o. the orchestra of the Royal Danish Opera, Danish Radio Symphony orchestra , Philharmonic Orchestras of Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Zagreb, Rotterdam, Dutch Radio and The Hague Residentie Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie andTaipei Symphony Orchestra. His performances in February 2013 of Mahler’s First symphony, among other at the Concertgebouw, were hailed by the press. As a guest conductor with Opera Zuid in Maastricht he conducted Massenet’s Manon (2012), Carmen (2013) and Fledermaus (2014).

Ivan Meylemans (born 1971, Belgium) started his orchestral conducting studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he graduated in 2000 with summa cum laude. In 2002 he became finalist and third laureate of the renowned Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London. In June 2005 Meylemans was awarded the ‘Salon Prize’, an award aimed at encouraging young musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This prize resulted in a first full-CD recording with the Royal
Concertgebouw Brass (RCO Brass) and is available from RCO Live, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s own record label (RCO 07002).

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