Jules van Hessen's website: www.julesvanhessen.com

Jules van Hessen was born in the Hague. He studied clarinet there at the Royal Conservatory, but he quickly changed his attention to conducting. In 1984 he successfully completed his studies under Pierre Stoll and Louis Stotijn with a concert with the Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra). He followed master classes with Lionel Friend, Edward Downes, Peter Eötvös and Karl Oesterreicher, to name but a few. It was Gennadi Rozhdestvensky who accepted him as a private pupil after a successful course in Dartington, England.

In 1986 and 1988 he was a finalist in the International Conductor course of the Dutch Broadcasting Services (NOS). His teachers there were Jean Fournet (1986) and Hiroyuki Iwaki (1988). In 1987 he conducted the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester. Jules van Hessen has won many prizes in conductors' competitions. For example he won the Silver Flower at the International Conductors' competition (San Remo, 1980). In the international Nikolai Malko competition for young conductors in Copenhagen in 1986 he won two prizes: the second prize and the Danish radio Orchestra prize. Since then he regularly conducts the Danish symphony orchestras. He was the prizewinner in the Igor Stravinsky competition (Graz, Austria, 1991). At the final concert he conducted "Le Sacre du Printemps".

Jules van Hessen has also conducted orchestras in Italy, France, Israel, Belgium, England, Germany, Austria, Mexico and the USA. In December 1991 he was the first Dutch conductor to conduct the two big symphony orchestras of China: the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China in Beijing and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Later he went back with the Philips Symphony Orchestra to give four concerts in the capital of China, Beijing. It was the first Dutch orchestra to give concerts in China. In the Netherlands Van Hessen has conducted most of the professional symphony orchestras, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Residentie Orkest. He has worked with many famous soloists as Frank Peter Zimmerman, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Nelson Freire, Pepe Romero, Giora Feidman.

Over the last few years, he has begun to conduct more and more opera and other music theatre performances. He has been a guest conductor at the Opera Forum in Enschede, the Netherlands, and several German opera houses, conducting Don Carlos, Nabucco, Tosca and many others. Since its establishment in 1985 he has been the artistic director of the Dutch Theatre Orchestra. Last year he conducted the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen with great success. Since 1987 he has been the principal conductor of the Philips Symphony Orchestra.

Besides conducting Jules van Hessen also gives lectures, in which he compares the activities of a conductor with those of a manager.

Jules van Hessen has made several CDs. This year has seen a very highly acclaimed release of music by the Danish composer Bent Soerensen for the Da Capo label.