User:Gert Geerts/Joost Maegerman

Joost Maegerman (Mechelen, 19 December 1978) is a musician from Belgium who has led the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra as intendant (CEO) since 2015.

Joost Maegerman studied double bass at the conservatories of Antwerp, Geneva and Zurich. In 2003 he became solo double bass player at the Rouen Opera, after which he played successively with the Brussels Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he stayed for seven years. During the last two years in Rotterdam, he combined his concert schedule with his duties as chairman of the works council. In June 2015 he became the intendant (CEO) of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra where he is in charge of the daily management of the orchestra.

In 2016, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra came to reside in the new Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp. Joost Maegerman built up a concert series in the Elisabeth Hall with international guest orchestras in addition to the concert series with the resident orchestra. Since 2017, the orchestra has opened the concert season with a gala concert featuring stars such as Juan Diego Flórez (2017), Angela Gheorghiu (2018), Elīna Garanča (2019), Sonya Yoncheva (2020) and Diana Damrau (2021). He established the innovative Club Concerts, specifically aimed at young people, and an annual Theatre Concert in which, in close cooperation with well-known Flemish theatre companies, existing theatre music and text is brought into a modern version (e.g. Beethoven's Egmont and Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible).

Under his leadership, Elim Chan was appointed chief conductor from the 2019-2020 season..

Joost Maegerman piloted the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra through the corona pandemic in a particularly agile manner. The orchestra gave many concert performances under leading conductors such as Elim Chan, Sir Mark Elder and former chief conductor Jaap Van Zweden. Maegerman also decided to release Midsummer Night's Dream by Mendelssohn with De Roovers and Philippe Herreweghe in the period of the obligatory closure of the concert halls as a concert film that also portrays the orchestra's residency.

As of the 2022 - 2023 season, he appointed Jaap Van Zweden as conductor emeritus of the orchestra, alongside chief conductor Elim Chan and honorary conductor Philippe Herreweghe. This places Antwerp Symphony under the artistic direction of a world class conductor triumvirate.