Elegy for Cello and String Orchestra
Recorded by London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé
Julian Lloyd Webber, cello

©Dirk Brossé

Sophia

Elegy For Cello

Dirk Brossé is passionate about music and has worked all over the world as a conductor and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and of Ghent Film Festival. John Williams chose him as Principal Conductor of the Star Wars in Concert World Tour. He is professor of composition and conducting at the School of Arts / Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent (B).

He has composed some 400 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works.  He has also composed extensively for cinema, television and stage. 
His score for the BBC/HBO series Parade's End was nominated for an Emmy Award.
His score for the film Knielen was nominated for Het Gouden Kalf.
He wrote the scores for the musicals Prince of Africa, Daens, Sacco & Vanzetti, Tintin, Rembrandt, Ben X, Pauline & Paulette, 14-18 and Scrooge.

In 2010, at the request of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he wrote The Hallow-e'en Dances. This Halloween-inspired work is especially written for age-old, traditional Chinese instruments. He recently composed Haiku Cycle 1, written for Jessye Norman and based on Haiku by Herman Van Rompuy, former president of the European Union.

Dirk Brossé has conducted many top orchestras, both at home and abroad. Amongst them, the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Vancouver Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Pilharmonic Orchestras of Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Basel, Madrid, Porto, Birmingham, Ulster, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Queensland, St Petersburg, Los Angeles and Boston. In 2008 he made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2016 he made his debut at the Carnegie Hall New York.

He has made more than 100 CD recordings and has collaborated with world-class artists such as José Van Dam, Barbara Hendricks, Julia Migenes, Claron McFadden, Julian Lloyd Webber, Sabine Meyer, Alison Balsom, Salvatore Accardo, John Williams, Toots Thielemans, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Randy Crawford, Lisa Gerrard, Mel Brooks, Maurane, Sinead O’ Connor, Maurice Jarre, Michel Legrand, Youssou N’Dour and Marcel Khalifé. He has worked with directors Stijn Coninx, Frank Van Laecke, Susanna White and Roland Joffé, and with writers Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Seth Gaaikema and Didier Van Cauwelaert.

Dirk Brossé has been awarded the title Cultural Ambassador of Flanders, the Flemish Parliament’s Gold Medal for Merit, the Achille Van Acker Prize, the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award and the Global Thinkers Forum Award for Excellence in Cultural Creativity.  

In 2010 Dirk Brossé was made an honorary citizen of Destelbergen. In 2013 he was elevated to Belgium’s hereditary nobility, with the personal title of Knight. He is a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. Since 2018 Dirk is a Fellow in Arts & Humanities at the Brussels University VUB.

EMI Classics released the 6 CD Box Dirk Brossé, A Portrait in Music.
The documentary Brossé, a destiny in Music by Jacques Servaes received international acclaim.

Elegy For Cello

Dirk Brossé Official