Jules van Hessen - dirigent
The Dutch conductor Jules van Hessen finished his studies at the Royal Conservatoire in his The Hague in 1984. Among his teachers, both at the Academy and at various conducting classes, were Pierre Stoll, Louis Stotijn, Edward Downes, Lionel Friend, Peter Eötvös and Karl Österreicher. Gennady Rozhdestvensky accepted Van Hessen as a private student following a singularly successful masterclass in Dartington. Van Hessen went on to win the Silver Flower at the San Remo International Conducting Competition and, in 1986 both the 2nd prize and the orchestra prize at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen. Ever since then he is a regular guest of Danish orchestras. In 1991 he was laureate of the Igor Strawinsky Conducting Competition in Austria. He also was a finalist in the Dutch NOS International Conducting Course.
In 1986 and 1988 Van Hessen was invited to conduct the gala concerts concluding the Dutch NOS Conducting Course, tutored by Jean Fournet and Hiroyuki Iwaki. His succesful appearance at these concerts led to numerous invitations from orchestras in the Netherlands and abroad. In 1991 he was the first Dutch conductor to be invited to conduct the two major symphony orchestras of China: the Beijing Central Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Jules van Hessen has given concerts in Italy, Danmark, France, Belgium, the UK (BBC Philharmonic), Germany, Austria, Israel, Thailand, the USA and Mexico. In the Netherlands he conducted most of the internationally known orchestras, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the The Residentie Orchestra of The Hague. He has worked with a great number of internationally renowned soloists, such as Frank Peter Zimmermann, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Lynn Dawson, Tine Kiberg, Pepe Romero, Nelson Freire, Giora Feidman and many others, As a guest conductor he has performed with opera houses in the Netherlands and Germany. He produced several CD's and DVD's among which a very well received CD with music of the Danish composer Bent Sørensen and the DVD "Cantors: a faith in song", which was broadcasted nationwide in the USA.
Known not only for his musical talents but also for his presentational skills, Van Hessen has been a frequent guest of the lecturing circuit, and he is also hosting a weekly show on classical music on Dutch public radio (Viertakt NPS).
Since its foundation in 1985 he is the artistic director of the Netherlands Theatre Orchestra. Under his leadership this orchestra manifested itself in several highly diverse and inventive programs.