Over the past decade, conductor Jules van Hessen and his team have been building a truly unique Dutch brand – Maestro Jules Reveals.
Their main goal has been to captivate the hearts and minds of audiences unfamiliar or less familiar with classical music, yet add an intriguing new twist for existing fans. What’s more, the formula appeals to a surprisingly wide range of listeners – young and old alike – thanks principally to its simplicity.
Maestro Jules reveals fascinating facts and recounts amusing anecdotes about a classical masterpiece and its composer. And he does so in his own inimitable charismatic, entertaining and humorous style, which has earned him the nickname The Stand-Up Conductor.
An orchestra performs live musical excerpts to illustrate various points in Maestro Jules’s story, supported by visual images projected onto a screen behind the orchestra. Following an intermission, he and the orchestra then perform the piece in full for the audience to hear with ‘new ears’.
Thousands of people have since discovered the joy of a concert hall performance thanks to this highly entertaining yet deeply serious format – some of whom had never before listened to live classical music.
Venues have included the Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), TivoliVredenburg (Utrecht), Musis (Arnhem) and Concertzaal Tilburg. Not to mention an impressive line-up of supporting orchestras – the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra), Phion and the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen.
The formula’s success has even led to several broadcasts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra on prime-time Dutch public television (AVROTROS).
And German audiences even got their first taste of Maestro Jules’s formula in March 2020 when he presented his concept in collaboration with the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen.
Maestro Jules Reveals is available in Dutch, English and German.
About Conductor "Maestro" Jules van Hessen
Jules van Hessen is a versatile, creative Dutch conductor with a varied repertoire who is at the same time able to communicate with his audience. Through his concerts, he discloses the power and beauty of music, connecting people and bringing out new ideas.
As well as a conductor, Jules van Hessen is a talented media personality and an inspiring lecturer.
Van Hessen earned his academic credentials from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied with a.o. Edward Downes, Lionel Friend, Peter Eötvös, Karl Oesterreicher and Gennadi Rozhdjestvensky. Since then, he was awarded the Silver Flower at the San Remo International Competition, Second Prize & Orchestra Prize at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen, and the Laureate Prize for the Igor Stravinsky Conducting Competition in Austria. He was chosen to conduct the final Gala Concert at the Dutch (NOS) International Conductors Course and remains the first Dutch conductor to ever be invited to the People’s Republic of China.
He has worked in Italy, France, Denmark, Belgium, the U.K., Germany, Austria, the U.S.A., China, the Middle East and Mexico, conducting alongside artists such as Frank Peter Zimmerman, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Pepe Romero, Nelson Freire, Behzod Abduraimov and Giora Feidman. Van Hessen’s critically acclaimed recordings include the complete works of Danish composer Bent Sörensen. Recently he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, for his achievements as Ambassador of Classical Music.
