ACCLAIMED DUTCH CONDUCTOR WITH AN EXTREMELY DIVERSE REPERTOIRE

Maestro Jules wants to share with as many people as possible the moving power and the quality of classical music in an inspiring and connecting way. Maestro Jules does this by taking his audience into the world of orchestral music as an inviting, sometimes mischievous, but always substantive guide.

Jules van Hessen is an acclaimed Dutch conductor with an extremely diverse repertoire. Passionate as he is about the classical works of all time, he has made it his mission to share and reveal the beauty of classical music with as many people as possible. To that purpose he has developed a concert formula called Maestro Jules Reveals, with which he has been touring throughout the Netherlands. With expertise that includes conducting a vast amount of renowned orchestras and opera houses around the world, award-winning Dutch musician and orchestral leader Jules van Hessen also has experience as a CD and DVD recording artist, a lecturer and radio host. He has served as Artistic Director of the Netherlands Theatre Orchestra (now called the Maestro Jules Orchestra) since its founding in 1987, where his ongoing acclaim has fostered the introduction of his own series, conducting and explaining the genesis and structure of the orchestral masterpieces that are programmed. The series is now performed in many concert halls (Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Musis in Arnhem, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven) by various Dutch and German orchestras. The success of his formula Maestro Jules Reveals, has led to three prime-time broadcasts with the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra on Dutch Public Television (AVROTROS).

Van Hessen is an expert and an ambassador of Jewish music: he was both conductor of the PBS production "Cantors, a Faith in Song" and "The New York Cantors", which was recorded in the beautiful 17th-century Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam and broadcast nationwide in the United States of America. He has formulated numerous innovating and entertaining lecture series for businesses, including "The conductor as manager, The manager as conductor," and has been a long-time host on Dutch Public Classical Radio (NTR).

Van Hessen earned his academic credentials from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where instructors included Edward Downes, Lionel Friend, Peter Eotvos, Karl Oesterreicher and Gennadi Rozhdjestvensky. Since then he was awarded the Silver Flower at the San Remo International Competition, Second Prize & Orchestra Prize at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen, and the Laureate Prize for the Igor Stravinsky Conducting Competition in Austria. He was chosen to conduct the final Gala Concert at the Dutch (NOS) International Conductors Course and remains the first Dutch conductor to ever be invited to the People's Republic of China. He has worked in Italy, France, Denmark, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Monaco, Austria, the United States of America, China, Brazil, Thailand, the Middle East and Mexico, conducting alongside artists such as Frank Peter Zimmermann, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Pepe Romero, Nelson Freire, Behzod Abduraimov and Giora Feidman.

Van Hessen's critically acclaimed recordings include the complete works of Danish composer Bent Sorensen. Recently he was knighted by His Majesty Willem Alexander King of the Netherlands "Ridder in de Orde van Oranje Nassau" for his achievements as Ambassador of Classical Music.