VERONIQUE JOURDAIN ARTISTS MANAGEMENT

“This man is amazing - working with him [...] has been a joy; so creative ans so rewarding.” - Paul Carr

“Deseure is a magician in the pit.” - NRC Handelsblad

“Having heard Karel Deseure conduct the music of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Schumann I was immensely impressed by his musicality and ability to shape the musical spirit and flow with elastic gestures. It is a rare gift to make music emerge organically and inevitably, combined with a physical capacity to do so.” - Semyon Bychkov

Symphonic
Highlights of recent seasons include successful collaborations with such orchestras as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre national de Cannes, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Romanian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, philharmonie zuidnederland, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Flanders Symphony Orchestra.

During the 2024/25 season, Karel Deseure has been invited to make his debut to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for three concerts across Scotland. Other invitations include returns to Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre national de Cannes, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Phion Orchestra in the frame of the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam.

Deseure regularly works with such artists as Katia & Marielle Labèque, Anastasia Kobekina, Maximilian Hornung, Bryce Dessner, Marc Bouchkov, Jonathan Fournel, Lorenzo Gatto, Christianne Stotjin, Marie Oppert, Elina Akselrud, Gérard Caussé.

Opera
Karel’s operatic career started with successful debut at the Opera Zuid in 2016 conducting Puccini’s La Bohême. Contributing to his success were critically acclaimed tours in 2018/19 of Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera which he undertook with Opera Zuid, as well as performances of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Hague Opera and in the pit of Budapest Opera House.

In recent seasons, Deseure has developed privileged partnerships with several lyrical institutions : Opera Zuid (Puccini La Bohême ; Bernstein A Quiet Place ; Verdi Un Ballo in Maschera ; Ravel L’Heure Espagnole and Poulenc La Voix Humaine ; Britten’s A midsummer night’s dream) and the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Weill Der Silbersee ; Bizet Les Pêcheurs de Perles). Other highlights include productions at the Dutch National Opera Academy (J. Strauss Die Fledermaus), the Dutch National Opera and Ballet (Ballet Dorian – music by Joey Roukens), the Nederlandse Reisopera (Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel), The Opéra de Toulon (Mozart Cosi fan tutte).

In the 2024/25 season, he returns to Opera Zuid in a production of Puccini’s Le Villi and to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Ravel L’Enfant et les Sortilège).

As a flutist Karel Deseure graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and studied conducting at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He was privileged to have masterclasses with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Peter Ëotvös and Jorma Panula.

In 2012 he was awarded the Anton Kersjes Foundation scholarship and from 2013-2015 was appointed assistant conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016 he assisted Valery Gergiev at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder and Daniele Gatti in two series of concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.

In 2018, Karel was granted the Schaunard Award in recognition of his opera work in the Netherlands.

In 2019, he has been appointed Professor of conducting at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

General Management
https://kareldeseure.com/
2024-25 season - Please contact Véronique Jourdain Artists Management for any alterations.
Photo credit: © Andrej Grilc