Artistic Director

David De Geest, artistic director of Lumen Symphonicum, felt the need in 2015 to establish a dynamic symphonic group with colleague musicians. This idea resulted in the foundation of a brand-new professional orchestra consisting of 35 young professional orchestral musicians. Over the last decade, they have broadened their orchestral experience after a successful study at one of the Flemish conservatories. Together, they are Lumen Symphonicum – ‘symphonic light’ – by which they want to offer a new approach on the symphonic repertoire with a focus on the First Viennese School.

Since 2016, David De Geest therefore chooses works form the Classical Period and mainly conducts music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, such as the Symphonies Nos. 35 ‘Haffner’, 36 ‘Linzer’, 40 and 41 ‘Jupiter’, the serenade ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’, the Clarinet Concerto and the Piano Concerto No. 21. Less known orchestral pieces such as the works of contemporaries Antonio Salieri and Johann Nepomuk Hummel also find their way into the concert programs.

Lumen Symphonicum performed in Brussels and major cities in East and West Flanders. The Belgian radio channel Klara regularly broadcasts Lumen Symphonicum with live recordings of Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41. The orchestra was honoured with the presence of Prince Laurent of Belgium at the concert held in the Concert Hall ‘Miry’ of the Ghent Conservatory (October 8, 2016).

In 2017, Schubert’s First Symphony appeared on the program, and in 2018, the composers Johann Strauss Jr. and Sr. were heard on Lumen Symphonicum’s first New Year Concert. In April 2018, Lumen Symphonicum played Joseph Haydn’s ‘Miracle’ Symphony together with music from Haydn’s opera ‘L’Anima del Filosofo’.

Lumen Symphonicum collaborates with renowned soloists such as the pianist and Mozart interpreter Daniel Blumenthal, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. The internationally acclaimed clarinettist Eddy Vanoosthuyse was welcomed by Lumen Symphonicum to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.

In 2018, Lumen Symphonicum worked together with international clarinettists and ICA Honorary Members Charles Neidich (US), Luis Rossi (Chile), Karl Leister (Germany) and Antonio Saiote (Portugal) during the International Clarinet Festival in Ostend. Carl Philipp Stamitz’s Concerto No. 3 was one of the clarinet concertos on the program. Furthermore, Lumen Symphonicum played music by Antonio Fraioli and Astor Piazzolla.

In 2019, Lumen Symphonicum performed Beethoven’s ‘Prometheus’ Ouverture and First Symphony. In collaboration with soprano soloist Jolien De Gendt, highlights from Mozart’s operas were played as well, such as selections from ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, ‘Idomeneo’, ‘Mitridate’, ‘Così fan tutte’, ‘La clemenza di Tito’ and ‘Die Zauberflöte’.