DeFilharmonie changes name to Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
The Antwerp-based orchestra is adopting a name change meant to increase the ensemble’s visibility abroad
Raise profile
“Thanks to our residency in the new Queen Elisabeth Hall, we now take up a central place in Antwerp,” said orchestra manager Joost Maegerman. “This is the perfect opportunity to give our host city a place in our name. Antwerp Symphony Orchestra will give our ensemble as well as our city a profile outside of Antwerp.”
The Antwerp ensemble (pictured) had its origins in a decision by the management of the Antwerp zoo in the 1950s to lay on concerts in what would later become the adjacent Elisabeth Hall, using the various musical groups existing in the city. The ensemble, which is today one of the seven major cultural institutions of the Flemish Community, would become a fixed entity in 1956, and finally adopt the name Koninklijke Filharmonie van Vlaanderen (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders) in 2002, known familiarly as deFilharmonie.
The adoption of an English-language name for the orchestra recalls the same decision taken in 2008 by the Vlaams Radio Orkest (Flemish Radio Orchestra) to change its name to Brussels Philharmonic (another group with the name Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra was already in existence). The reasons given then were the same: to allow a broader international profile, while retaining a link to the orchestra’s home city.
Photo by Bert Hulselmans/Bijloke.be
