English:Marc Clémeur (Q559519)

Marc Clémeur was born in Antwerp in Belgium, and attended courses in solfège, harmony and piano at the Conservatoire royal de musique d'Anvers (Royal Conservatory of Music in Antwerp), at the same time as pursuing his studies at secondary school (in classical literature and  mathematics). He went to university in Cologne (studying theatre and musicology). After completing his thesis on the French version of Verdi's Don Carlos (his findings were incorporated into the new edition of the score (Ricordi/Milan), he became assistant director to Goetz Friedrich at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, as well as in Bayreuth and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. As of 1977, he worked as a classical music producer for Belgian radio and television, where he was, inter alia, reponsible for opera broadcasts from the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1982, he was appointed dramaturge at the Opéra de Flandre, then in 1984 he became the director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Flandre. In 1989 he was appointed by the government as Director General of the newly reorganised    Opéra de Flandre.

Under Marc Clémeur's leadership, the Opéra de Flandre acquired international renown. On several occasions the journal Opernwelt awarded it the title of « best opera house of the year». Artists such as Robert Carsen and Silvio Varviso (we remember them particularly for an outstanding Puccini cycle) regularly appear there. Many productions from this opera house are invited to Paris, Hamburg, Leipzig (Nozze di Figaro), Düsseldorf, Geneva, Bologna (Fidelio), Barcelona (Tosca), Tel-Aviv, Los Angeles (Idomeneo) and Tokyo (La Bohème,  conducted by Seiji Ozawa). In 2006, the production of Kat'a Kabanova, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, was invited to la Scala of Milan. The Opéra de Flandre was one of the first European opera houses to perform Baroque operas on a regular basis under the baton of such specialist conductors as René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe and Marc Minkowski.

A « Fellini Trilogy » (with the Satyricon by Bruno Maderna, Prova d'orchestra by Giorgio Battistelli, the world premiere of a work based on La Strada), as well as  Richard Wagner's Ring are also worth noting.

Marc Clémeur has pursued a policy of premiering  contemporary works and has been responsible for the Belgian first performances of operas by Hans Werner Henze, Michael Tippett, György Ligeti, Bruno Maderna, Jonathan Dove and Thomas Adès, as well as world premieres of works by Jan van Vlijmen, Eugeniusz Knapik, Piet Swerts, Wim Henderickx and Giorgio Battistelli.

Under his leadership considerable improvements were made to the two theatres : the auditorium and the stage were renovated, with a lateral stage and new improved access for stage sets and décor etc. The Opéra de Flandre has at present 8000 subscribers and season ticket holders, many of them from the north of France and from the Netherlands - and has an audience of 150.000 spectators per year. In 1998  Marc Clémeur set up the Opéra Studio de  Flandre, of which he was chairman of the board.

In 1994, Marc Clémeur was awarded the « Prix de l'Europe » for having given a European dimension to the Opéra de Flandre. It was Agfa-Gevaert, the photography companies, who awarded him the « Lieven Gevaert » prize for having been successful in attracting young audiences to the opera.

He has been appointed General Director of the Opéra national du Rhin as of the 1st September 2009. The 2009-2010 season has been fully planned by him.