𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚 is widely considered as one of the world's finest community wind orchestras. Over and over again, critics have lauded its unique velvet and dark sound, which clearly stands out among many others. Michael was established in 1863 in Thorn, a Dutch village with a flourishing cultural life. The orchestra is highly active within the Netherlands and abroad, and received
countless 1st prizes in both national- and international competitions. The orchestra has won the 1st prize at the Kerkrade World Music Contest (WMC) three times with the highest number of points. On May 26th 2018 the orchestra won the European Championship in Brussels with a record score of 97,92 points. During the last two decades, they gave more than 200 performances in over 50 different concert halls and theatres, at home and abroad, reaching an audience of some 70,000 people. During that period, nearly 250 different compositions were played, nearly 20 hours of radio recordings were made and 9 music CDs were released.
𝐈𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬
Chief conductor of St. The Belgian maestro made his first appearance with orchestra back in 1996 when he performed with the ensemble as a trombone soloist. Michael as a guest conductor on regular bases, which ultimately led to his appointment as chief conductor in 2013. Ivan Meylemans is one of the most exciting and dynamic conductors to emerge in Europe recent years. From 2007 to 2012 Meylemans was chief conductor of the Chamber Orchestra Bruges (Het Kamerorkest) and he served as assistant of maestro Mariss Jansons at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.
‘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 about Ivan Meylemans)
