Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia

In 1958, Lola Bobesco founded Les Solistes de Bruxelles, which became the renowned Eugène Ysaÿe String Ensemble, and is now the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia (Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, ORCW).

The orchestra has regularly collaborated with the greatest artists on the greatest international stages: José Van Dam, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Aldo Ciccolini, Mischa Maïski, Maurice André, Arthur Grumiaux, Philippe Hirshhorn, Georges Octors, Guido Kremer, Louis Lortie, Jian Wang, Ivry Gitlis, Antoine Tamestit, Gautier Capuçon, Henri Demarquette, Richard Galliano, Maria João Pires, etc.; in Paris, Beijing, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bucharest, Bayreuth, Munich, Luxembourg, Zurich, Geneva, Saint Petersburg, Brussels, etc.

Since 2003, the orchestra has benefitted from the dynamism and renown of its Music Director and Principal Conductor, Augustin Dumay, principal guest conductor in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, Frank Braley succeeded him. These collaborators of long standing are finalising large-scale projects under the auspices of ‘Mons 2015, European Capital of Culture’.

With Jean-François Chamberlan, its first violin, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia performs regularly in Belgium. It is a regular partner of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Bozar, Flagey, and numerous Belgian music festivals, as well as the Queen Paola Foundation.

In its home town of Mons, with the ‘Manège-Mons’, the orchestra is presenting a cycle of chamber music, ‘Mons et Merveilles’, organising concerts at the Théâtre Royal in collaboration with the City of Mons, and offering a diversified and original repertoire with young artists in the series ‘Mons Découvertes’.