MID EUROPE

Koninklijke Harmonie St-Cecilia Hoeselt, BE

This wind orchestra from Belgium will play the opening concert in the Dachstein-Tauern-hall and some open airs for the Mid Europe audience!

The history of the Koninklijke Harmonie Sint-Cecilia Hoeselt goes back to the foundation in 1895. However the current success period started in 1987 when Jos Wijnen was appointed as director. Under his conduct, the wind orchestra has developed to a group of 60 amateur musicians of which more than half are younger than 25 years old.

Since 2000 we decided to focus on this youth and started our own youth orchestra (Dubbele Forte), which now has grown to 30 people younger then 18 years old. This youth orchestra is the ideal way for the young musicians to learn to play together and it is a good introduction to the main orchestra.

In 2003 our orchestra participated to the Jungfrau Music Festival in Interlaken (Switzerland). The jury rewarded the performance with an unexpected 94% and a Golden Certificate.

The Koninklijke Harmonie Sint-Cecilia Hoeselt is renowned for her yearly New Year’s concerts. Between 2003 and 2009 these concerts had the respective subtitles “Concierto Latino”, “E Viva Espana”, “An American Dream, “On Broadway”, “Adventure and Fantasy” and “With Love from Russia”. Every single concert was witnessed by a public of 600 enthusiastic listeners.

Between 2005 and 2008 the orchestra organized as well 4 editions of Hoeselt Promms. These proms concerts are a mixture of classical music and pop music, whereby several pop artists were invited. On every edition more than 1000 people were dancing on popular classical tunes and pop and rock classics.

In March 2010, the Koninklijke Harmonie Sint-Cecilia Hoeselt organized the biggest challenge till now: the musical Saga Candida. This rather unknown musical (translated as Satan’s Semen) is composed by Bert Appermont, a local but worldwide recognized composer. 70 musicians, a choir of 30 people, 9 soloists and a dancing group participated in the 2 enactments of this musical in the Sports venue of Hoeselt. More then 1200 people attended this big event and they were all ecstatic!

Homepage: www.harmoniehoeselt.be

Jos Wijnen - conductor

Jos Wijnen is the conductor of the Koninklijke Harmonie St-Cecilia Hoeselt since 1987. He studied at the renowned Lemmens Institute in Leuven where he graduated with first price on the clarinet in 1982. One year later he was awarded with the highest distinction for the Higher Degree for Clarinet. In this year he also obtained his degree in chamber music. In 1992 he obtained his master in orchestral conduction (hafabra) at the same Lemmens Institute.

Currently Jos teaches transposition and didactics at the Lemmens Institute and clarinet and saxophone at the Music Academy in Tongeren.

Ever and ever again, our conductor knows how to motivate the 60 amateur musicians in our wind orchestra by choosing the right repertoire which is a mix of traditional classical music, contemporary music, film music and even sometimes some hitparade music. Jos is very much praised by critics for finding the right balance between technical skills and musicality.