Etienne Siebens

Eienne Siebens’ rise as conductor to international musical prominence has been an astonishing phenomenon. Early on in his career, he was invited to give guest performances with several orchestras in Belgium and The Netherlands. Invitations from England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain were soon to follow. The press wrote about him that he was: “… the coming-man in the conducting-poor Belgium…”.

He studied conducting under Lucas Vis, Hiroyuki Iwaki and Jorma Panula.His repertoire ranges from music of the seventeenth century to contemporary work and encompasses all genres: symphonic, operatic and chamber. National and international reviews are unanimously favourable.

From 1992 till 2008 Etienne Siebens was the artistic leader and concert director of the Prometheus Ensemble which he himself had founded. During this period the Prometheus Ensemble became one of the most important ensembles worldwide due to its distinct character. They were invited to perform in renowned concert series and at festivals at home and abroad, such as the Festival of Flanders, Festival Musica Strassbourg, Festival Octobre and Normandy, Convent Garden Festival and the Festival Académies Musical de Saintes. In 2013 Etienne Siebens conducted at the prestigious opera festival in Aix-en-Provence and a tour through Europe. In June 2014 Siebens will conduct a new opera from Martijn Padding with “De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam”.

In 2001 Siebens was appointed permanent guest conductor from the Flemish Radio Orchestra. In 2002 he successfully conducted the Holland Festival production “Karkas” by De Bondt. In addition to this, Amsterdam Sinfonietta invited him to perform in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Siebens also gave a series of concerts together with the Nederlands Blazersensemble, performing Andriessen's “De Staat”, Asko|Schönberg performing Harisson Birtwistle’s “Theseus Game” in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Klangforum Wien during the Festival Wien Modern, concert and the world premiere of a new opera by Luca Francesconi. After that Etienne Siebens has been invited to conduct concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Asko|Schönberg, Musikfabrik, Klangforum Wien, Psappha Ensemble, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre de l’opera de Rouen, Ghent's Collegium Vocale and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recently cd recordings were released of performances with The Hague Philharmonic, Klangforum Wien, the Flemish Symphony Orchestra (a cd box containing a four disk live recording), the Radio Chamber Orchestra with music of Michael van der Aa and a recording with Asko|Schönberg with the work of Martijn Padding.

Siebens worked with soloists such as Hannigan, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, José van Dam, Christianne Stotijn, Quirine Viersen, Frank Braley, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Claron McFadden and Pieter Wispelwey. He also worked very closely with composers as: Maurico Kagel, György Kurtag, Peter Eötvös, Luca Francesconi, Michel Van der Aa, Louis Andriessen, Harisson Birtwistle, P.M.Davies, Philippe Boesmans.

www.etiennesiebens.be