In Thursday’s (9/23) Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns writes, “With his square jaw, penetrating eyes, and thick dark hair, Belgian conductor Dirk Brossé looks as if he ought to be somebody—and a serious somebody at that. Yet few conductors have arrived for a major post with so little prior reputation as the new music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Brossé, born and based in Ghent, has a huge, diverse resumé as a composer of film scores, musicals, and concert works—roughly 200 in all genres—plus a guest-conducting record that has taken him to a lion’s share of Europe’s secondary orchestras. He’s been there and done that in triplicate—though in few places well-known to Americans. … The Chamber Orchestra has had only two previous music directors in its 46-year history—Marc Mostovoy and Ignat Solzhenitsyn—and is approaching this new introduction carefully. Mass mailings to Center City residents weren’t typical brochures, but a personal-style invitation letter from Brossé. His tenure opens not at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater (the orchestra’s home) but at the Mann Center on Saturday—with fireworks as a crowd-drawing bonus, followed by Sunday and Monday concerts at Kimmel.”
Posted September 23, 2010
