Le Concert Olympique

Le Concert Olympique was founded in 2010 as the brainchild of Beethoven expert and conductor Jan Caeyers. Since then, it has struck a chord in the classical music world. Le Concert Olympique represents a unique contemporary experience of a timeless tradition with relevant and authentic performances specifically of masterpieces by Beethoven and his contemporaries. The orchestra has two residencies in Belgium, one in deSingel in Antwerp and one in Flagey in Brussels. It is also ‘Orchestra in residence’ at Leuven University and supported by the Flemish Community. As from 2012, Le Concert Olympique has been invited to acclaimed concert halls such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and De Doelen in Rotterdam.

Le Concert Olympique is both a world-wide project and a world-class project. Its 50 players, who are meticulously screened and auditioned, are recruited internationally and converge several times a year to form a top-notch orchestra that works intensively with the world's best soloists on an exclusive production. Everyone shares the conductor’s enthusiasm: a love of music and the ambition to perform the Viennese classics at the highest levels. The festive character is emphasized by the fact that the musicians are dressed by famous designer Anna Heylen. This collaboration symbolizes the main mission of Le Concert Olympique: to combine the timeless tradition with a fresh and vivid contemporary experience.

The orchestra's spirit is also captured in its name, which evokes "Le Concert de la Société Olympique", the renowned Parisian concert organizer who commissioned six symphonies from Joseph Haydn in the 1780s. Haydn’s music, performed in the Palais-Royal, the birthplace of the progressive, pre-revolutionary social movement in France, signaled the birth of the modern classical symphony.

Claire Huangci will perform Beethoven's second piano concerto on tour with Le Concert Olympique under the baton of Beethoven expert Jan Caeyers. Beethoven was only fifteen years old when he began sketching his Piano Concerto in B flat major, op. 19.

Late Masterpieces

Like Beethoven’s sketches for his 10^th symphony, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto were written during the final period of the composers’ lives.

Only a few days before his death, Beethoven repeated in a letter his firm intention to complete the 10th Symphony – which unfortunately never happened.

“Rethinking Beethoven X” was the working title of Jens Joneleit’s new composition. Co-commissioned by Le Concert Olympique, Joneleit revives Beethoven’s sketches for his 10^th symphony.

A word from Beethoven expert Jan Caeyers on this project:

Beethoven's music for the ballet 'The Creatures of Prometheus' (op.43) is a hybrid composition: it starts off in a pictorial and narrative way, but becomes abstract and non-figurative at a certain point, which allows the solo dancers to show off their dancing skills towards the end. The finale, however, with its familiar Eroica theme is a musical-political manifesto. This conceptual ambivalence makes it difficult to create a legitimate contemporary version of this work.

Le Concert Olympique presents an original and convincing alternative by performing an exclusive choice of excerpts from the ballet music.