During this week of Belgian music (31/01 – 06/02), composers from the home front are put in the spotlight.

We sit down with Maestro Dirk Brossé, who has carved out his place in the artistic world and belongs to a unique intellectual circle. Recently he turned 60 and celebrated his 40-year music career, which has soared to great heights. In our fast-paced times, he remains incredibly active. His life unfolds in the balancing act between composing and conducting. Music is universal. He has broken out of the Belgian bubble and divides his time between his home base in Destelbergen and Philadelphia, where he has been Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia—a top-tier orchestra—since 2009. Beyond that, he serves as Music Director of Ghent Film Festival and professor of conducting & composition at the School of Arts in Ghent. Between these responsibilities, he appears as guest conductor with the world's most prestigious orchestras. A true global citizen. He is welcomed everywhere because he approaches his work with respect and integrity, channeling this through his immense technical skill to create beautiful, lasting concerts.

In his compositions, Brossé displays enormous versatility. By weaving together elements from classical music, folk music, jazz, pop, and musical theater, he has built a multidisciplinary body of work. His passionate, erotically dramatic music is a testament to unprecedented compositional mastery. He has written an enormous amount, and his creativity continues to flow unstoppably. Consumed by music, he has precious few moments of free time. Still, he makes time for Klassiek Centraal. We delve into his personality and try to capture four decades of music through questions and answers in a a trip down memory lane, the present, and a glimpse at the future.

—You grew up in a middle-class family with little exposure to art and culture. How did your passion for music ignite?

From childhood, I was fascinated by instruments and their unique sounds. I grew up in a village with few cultural contacts. We had to keep ourselves entertained. Every Saint Nicholas Day, I'd ask for a musical instrument: I had an accordion, a melodica… Around age eight, we watched a Dutch TV program Young people on their way to the concert stage. There was a boy my age playing "Il Silenzio" on his trumpet. I immediately thought: that's what I want to do.

—You started as an instrumentalist. Was it immediately clear that you wanted to develop into a composer?

When I was eight or nine, I went to music school. Very quickly, I was accepted into the local brass band. Our conductor was a professional musician who played the flute. That's when I first consciously realized I had the creativity within me to compose things myself. My first compositions date from when I was twelve or thirteen. Of course, they were very simple pieces. The ambition to eventually conduct an orchestra myself was already there, simmering beneath the surface.

—One of your major influences was American composer, conductor, pianist, and music educator Leonard Bernstein. You've followed in his footsteps in many ways. There are many parallels.

There are indeed parallels. He inspired whole generations: music lovers, young people like myself. That man had such charisma, such qualities, was so gifted in all aspects of music! A genius, truly. I actually had a few illustrious role models. The very first was François Glorieux. Also something of an outsider when you consider the sum of his career. In secondary school, we went to a Youth and Music concert. It was "The François Glorieux Panoramic Trio Plays Glorieux." He had put together a special program for young people and told us about his distant travels. Everything a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy needs to turn a small spark into a roaring flame. The first composer I actually met in person! John Williams also influenced me, but Bernstein left the greatest substantive impression on me.

—You're active in many fields. Is that due to stubbornness or entrepreneurial spirit?

A combination of both, I think. My parents were small business owners. From home, I learned to keep multiple irons in the fire. If one falls through, you have others to fall back on. But I practice the different elements of my job with equal love and passion. Conducting and composing in different genres. I'm devoted to ethnic art and music. Literature also speaks to me. Not that I write myself, but I do draw on literature.

—As a source of inspiration?

Exactly. What draws or speaks to different people varies from person to person.

A mindset. Art, as part of expression, is largely a matter of developmental dynamics. Art makes you think. Art shows what otherwise isn't seen or perceived.

A mindset indeed. We walk around in this world and want to enjoy all sorts of things. Experience is an extremely personal thing. Have five people look at a painting or sculpture, or ask witnesses of an accident to explain what they saw. You get five different stories!

What have been the key moments in your career?

There have been various key moments, both inner and outer. People who cross your life path are often decisive for your development. They're not milestones, but they do mark you. I was once a guest auditor at lessons given by Bernstein. When that man entered a room, I assure you, sparks flew! Those are moments that stay with you. As I grow older, I realize that has a lot to do with perception. Careers are of course based on inner drive, on talent, but also on media. How a particular person is or isn't talked about. It's a sum of factors. There's also meeting my childhood idol, film composer John Williams. When you meet someone like that and talk face to face with them. Those are moments you cherish. Later we became very good friends. You get used to such encounters, of course, because they're also just people. Other important moments are when you compose a work and perform it for the first time. You let it go for the first time, that's an almost indescribable emotional moment.

After creating something, what feeling surfaces: satisfaction or is the journey there more important?

The latter, the whole journey there. The first thought, from the first to the last note you put on paper. The most important thing is the entire creative process and the thinking process that preceded it. The performance is a different phase. After everything I've already done: conducting thousands of concerts, composing hundreds of works, traveling around the world twice a year... the highest satisfaction I get is from conducting my own work. That gives an incredible kick.

'Compositional thinking'—how can you explain that somewhat for a layperson?

Composing is the invention of sound structures within time structures. It's a logical, often ingenious thinking process that you can compare to building a rocket to fly to the moon... with the difference that music isn't an exact science. It's a combination of knowledge, expertise, but also lots of spontaneity, intuition, and feeling. Inspiration that you receive and then hold onto. For a poet that might be a word, a flash of thought, a glance... For a composer it's basically the same.

Do mathematics and music have anything to do with each other? Pythagoras was already talking about mathematics as the basis of harmony in the 6th century BC.^th That's correct, his theory of overtones. Pythagoras was the first to demonstrate that every fundamental tone, whether it comes from a vibrating string or a singing resonance scale, has a series of natural overtones. When you strike a fundamental tone, all those overtones are present in the space, even if you don't always hear them. Small children are more receptive to this; the hearing of adults is no longer so perfect. That's the basis of classical harmony on which Western music is based. To be clear, not all musical cultures have based their theories on Pythagoras.

Stylistic polygamy has become your trademark. You compose world music, symphonies, oratorios, songs, chamber music, film music, and music for musicals.

Fundamentally, I always do the same thing; it's just the genres that differ. Music is conveying an emotion. Music is never abstract. There are composers who can write abstractly. Bach is a fine example of that. In my work, there's always a story involved. Somewhere a red thread running through the composition. Whether it's a musical, an oratorio, or an instrumental symphony. That doesn't really matter. The structure differs of course from work to work. I let myself be inspired by something and the work ethic and talent do the rest.

I once heard you say in a documentary that composing film music is one of the most difficult things.

It's so difficult because you have to take account of so many aspects that lie outside the music. To begin with, film music is applied art in the sense that you're subordinate to the visual material. Sometimes you have lots of freedom, other times little. But you always have to adapt yourself technically. Film is the medium in which the image is central. Sometimes the music also has to account for dialogue. You're actually a small part of a larger whole. It's sometimes difficult to efface yourself and immerse yourself in each new story. Film music is actually quite recent. A hundred years ago that language didn't exist. There was narrative music that was later used a lot in films. Think of the film "Death in Venice" with music by Mahler. Mahler could never in his wildest dreams have foreseen that his music would be used to create atmosphere in an audiovisual artwork! Film music is a new language that has developed over the past twelve to thirteen decades. Meanwhile, the culture between image and sound has changed incredibly. There's much more room for the personal interpretation of the viewer. There are sound clouds that put you in a certain mood and give you space to fill in what you do or don't want to feel. That means that the composer today must also have very great dramaturgical and psychological insight. His function is not only to compose music but he must also be a silent guardian of the dramaturgical line running through the film.

© Lara Herbinia Where does your great passion lie: being able to do your own thing completely independently or composing music on commission? Well. Composing music on commission has the advantage that you get paid for it. Apart from the financial side, you're also assured that your music will be performed. When it's performed, the music can also be recorded and passed on to future generations. If you come up with a piece of music yourself, there's paper on your desk and then you have to do a bit of hustling to get your music played. That's why I prefer to receive commissions.

I indeed did that with the symphony "Artesia" and a second symphony "The Birth of Music." Since then I've never done it again for the simple reason that the way orchestras program has changed. The greatest difficulty was, and still is, finding musicians who can play all those ethnic instruments! But I'm now working on an 'Opus Magnum' in which I return to what I did in the nineties. We're much further along now. Technologically, there's been a lot of evolution. It's no longer necessarily required that you have all those people on stage playing these instruments. There are other ways to bring sound sources to the audience. I can't say too much about it yet, but it's {{NOTRANSLATE_1}}.

Does Belgian music have a strong identity?

What is Belgian music? I think that's a good and at the same time difficult question. I think of all genres it's perhaps pop music that has the greatest identity. We've always been good at innovating pop music, then I think of people like Ozark Henry alias Piet Godard, dEUS who produced new sounds, Hooverphonic, Joost Zweger, Stromae. I also think of Jasper Steverlinck, Vaya Con Dios a couple of decades ago. The genre that has had the most impact on our neighboring countries and perhaps the whole world is Belgian pop music. We certainly also have fantastic composers in the classical genre, Frederik Devreese is one of them. But not figures like a Philip Glass who really changed the course of contemporary classical music. Not that I'm aware of. Perhaps we do have such people but their music hasn't managed to be a trendsetter.

I did indeed do that with the symphony "Artesia" and a second symphony "The Birth of Music". After that, I never did it again for the simple reason that the way orchestras program has changed. The biggest challenge was, and still is, finding musicians who can play all those ethnic instruments! But I'm now working on an 'Opus Magnum' in which I'm returning to what I did in the nineties. We're much further along now. Technologically, a lot has evolved. It's no longer necessarily the case that you need all those people on stage playing these instruments. There are other ways to bring sound sources to the audience. I can't say too much about it yet, but it is —Are you positioning yourself as an advocate?.

Does Belgian music have a strong identity?

What is Belgian music? I think that's both a good and at the same time a difficult question. I think of all genres, it's perhaps pop music that has the strongest identity. We've always been good at innovating pop music, and I'm thinking of people like Ozark Henry alias Piet Godard, dEUS who produced new sounds, Hooverphonic, Joost Zweger, Stromae. I also think of Jasper Steverlinck, Vaya Con Dios a couple of decades ago. The genre that has had the most impact on our neighboring countries and perhaps the whole world is definitely Belgian pop music. Of course, we also have fantastic composers in the classical genre, Frederik Devreese is one of them. But not figures like a Philip Glass who really changed the course of contemporary classical music. Not that I'm aware of. Maybe we do have them, but their music simply hasn't managed to be a trendsetter.

-U composes works in different styles, from early Baroque to contemporary creations, which demonstrates versatility and flexibility.

Versatility, that's true enough. When you're asked to compose a Viennese waltz today and an Argentinian tango tomorrow, and for the next film something polyphonic or something in Renaissance style, you develop flexibility. That has a major advantage, but there's also a downside to it.

-In what sense?

Because you keep drifting further away from your own thing. You can make every possible dish in the world. Today you make pizza and tomorrow sushi, but who are you really as a chef? Am I the guy who can skillfully imitate everything, or what comes from your own gut?

-You have to preserve and prioritize your own identity?

Exactly, preserving your own identity is of paramount importance.

-What is your most ambitious composition so far?

The most ambitious compositions are the symphonies I wrote in the nineties. "La Soledad de América Latina" written in collaboration with Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "Artesia" a universal symphony for orchestra and ethnic instruments. They were very innovative for their time. No one had ever done that before. Not internationally either. In terms of musical language, the violin concerto "Sophia" that I composed in the year 2000—by now I have about 400 compositions to my credit—can appeal to music history. I've always promised myself that if I compose one work that is so good it can compete with great classical works, then my goal has been achieved. I can't judge that myself. Time will tell. But since you're asking me, I think the violin concerto "Sophia" is quite a strong work.

-Your wife Claire Tillekaerts, managing director of Flanders Investment and Trade, leads trade missions worldwide. A job where reason rules. A completely different world from the art scene. Are you a complementary couple?

We form a perfectly complementary couple. As an adolescent, Claire had the ambition to pursue an artistic direction. Her grandfather was a painter and violinist. Her father a magistrate. It was written in the stars that she would end up in law or the judiciary. Not much choice there! She actually wanted to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. Claire absolutely has an artistic soul. There's tremendous understanding for my work. She's very involved with art herself. She loves going to museums, is very much into literature. She devours books at a crazy pace! That has to do with a lawyer's mindset, having to review many files in a short time. There are far more common ground than one might think at first glance. I also have strong business instincts in me. I fight for my art. As the eldest son in a family of five children and small business owners, I was handed nothing on a silver platter. I've accomplished it all myself. I never received subsidies, I was never on life support, but realized everything through my own efforts.

-What is your strongest gift: your talent for composition or your aptitude for synthesis, drive, and originality?

I think the latter. It's also a sum of everything. My success is that I know what I can do and I know what I can't do. I've developed expertise in what I'm good at and where I'm number one—that's as a conductor and as a composer. The combination of those talents with my business instincts is what's put me where I am today. Now, after a forty-year career, I can say: "Thanks to all the people at home and abroad who have constantly put obstacles in my way. Closed doors." They shaped me into who I am today, inwardly and outwardly.

-May I end with a quote from the British writer Aldous Huxley: "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." That's what I try to contribute to as an artist. As a conductor, moving the audience with the musical legacy and wealth of my predecessors, and as a composer, with my own work.