Koen Kessels

Koen Kessels was born in Ostend, Belgium, and studied at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp. In 2010, he was appointed Music Director at Birmingham Royal Ballet, followed by an appointment as Music Director at The Royal Ballet (Covent Garden, London) in 2015. Kessels has worked as guest conductor with Dutch National Ballet and The Ballet Orchestra since 2008 and recently conducted the National Ballet productions The Sleeping Beauty and Dawson, both in 2022. From season 2024-2025, he is musical director and principal conductor with Dutch National Ballet and The Ballet Orchestra. Meanwhile, he resigned his position at Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Kessels is a regular guest conductor at Teatro alla Scala (Milan, Italy), Bayerisches Staatsballett (Baden-Baden, Germany) and Opéra national de Paris, and has conducted for such companies as New York City Ballet, Kungliga Operan (Stockholm, Sweden), De Munt (Brussels, Belgium), Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Antwerp/Ghent, Belgium), Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse (France), Wiener Staatsballett (Vienna, Austria), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Rome, Italy), Teatro Real Madrid (Spain), and New National Theatre Tokyo (Japan). His ballet repertory includes works such as Coppelia, Cinderella, Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Firebird, Jewels and Romeo and Juliet. His opera catalogue comprises Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin (Opera Ballet Vlaanderen), Hosokawa’s Hanjo, Lens’s Shell Shock, Requiem of War (De Munt, Brussels), Wim Henderickx’s De Bekeerlinge (Opera Ballet Vlaanderen) and operas by composers such as Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Britten.

Kessels contributed to DVD releases such as Proust, Cinderella, Coppelia, Hommage à Jerôme Robbins and La Petite Danseuse De Degas (Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris), the Nutcracker & the Mouse King, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Frankenstein, Woolf Works, Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, Bernstein Celebration, Mayerling, The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet), Cinderella (Birmingham Royal Ballet) and La Reine Morte (Ballet du Capitole).

Kessels is an honorary professor in the Department of Music of Birmingham University, he is the Artistic Director of Inspiratum (Belgium) and he chairs the Artistic Direction Team (Classical Music) at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. As the artistic director of Belgian-based HERMESensemble, Kessels has collaborated with composers such as Abrahamsen, Bartholomée, Benjamin, Brewaeys, Ferrari, Henderickx, Hosokawa, Van Hove, Huber, Maresz, Murail, Pagh-Paan, Van Parys, Saariaho, Talbot and Yared.

Last update: 04-09-2024