National Orchestra of Belgium
The National Orchestra of Belgium or NOB (Dutch: Nationaal Orkest van België, French: Orchestre National de Belgique) is among the oldest orchestras in Belgium, along with the Brussels Philharmonic and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège.
The Orchestra was founded in 1931 by Désiré Defauw as the Brussels Symphony Orchestra, and later reorganized in 1936 into its present form. With its base in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels and subsidized by the Belgian government, the NOB performs 70 concerts each season in Belgium and abroad, employing 96 musicians. It specializes in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries and film scores. In 2003, contestants in the final round of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition were accompanied by the orchestra, under the direction of Gilbert Varga.
Prior to the 1958 appointment of André Cluytens as its music director and permanent conductor, the NOB worked with various conductors including Karl Böhm, Désiré Defauw, Erich Kleiber, and Pierre Monteux. The orchestra's current music director is Walter Weller, since 2007. He is scheduled to step down from the post in 2012 and to take the title of Honorary Conductor. In September 2010, the NOB announced the appointment of Andrey Boreyko as its next music director, effective with the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.[1]
Music directors
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