David Navarro-Turres
Conductor
Chilean-Belgian conductor and arranger David Navarro-Turres has been acclaimed for his dynamic
performances, his commitment to innovative programming and his passion for artistic openness to
diverse audiences in Europe.
He currently holds the position of Music Director and Artistic Director of the Brussels Philharmonic
Orchestra (www.bpho.be), the chamber choir Serenata Vocale and the Ensemble Confluences.
As guest conductor, he has performed with orchestras such as the Belgian National Orchestra, the
ensemble EST-OEST, the ensemble Confluences, the Chamber Orchestra of Chile, the Pazardjik
Symphony Orchestra, the Commonwealth Symphony Orchestra, the Antofagasta Symphony
Orchestra, El Sistema Belgium, the Concepción Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony
Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Royal Brussels Conservatory and the HKU Utrecht
Conservatorium Orchestra.
He graduated from the National Conservatory of the University of Chile and the Conservatoire Royal
de Bruxelles. He has received scholarships for conducting masterclasses in Zurich with David
Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra, in London with Benjamin Zander and the London Masterclass
Orchestra, and another with Guerassim Voronkov and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra.
In April 2016, he premiered Sir Karl Jenkins' orchestral version of "The Armed Man" at the Palais des
Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 2017 he conducted the opening concert of the BALKAN TRAFIK Festival
with Goran Bregovic and his composition of the Three Letters from Sarajevo. In 2022, together with
Ensemble Confluences, he opened the Festival of World and Sacred Music of the International
Festival of Contemporary Music in Mons and Namur (Belgium). It will continue with a series of
concerts of Hommage à Brel & Edith Piaf - the Symphonic Version, new Belgian composers, the
recording of Haydn's "The Creation" at Flagey's Studio 4, Mahler's "Titan" No. 1 Symphony for the
20th anniversary of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and Mendelssohn's "Elijah" at BOZAR. In
June 2022, it will continue with the closing concert with EULAT 4culture, an activity realised in
collaboration with the European Commission and the Latin American diplomatic representations. In
August and September 2022 he made his debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de
La Serena and the Joven Orquesta de Portugal; ending 2022 with a tour of the operetta "Barbe
Blue" in different cities of Belgium.
www.davidnavarroturres.com
Mary Gow
Assistant Music Director and Pianist
Mary comes from Wellington, New Zealand. She holds the degrees of BA and BMus from Victoria University, Wellington together with the LRSM and FTCL diplomas in piano. She studied for five years at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels in Flemish, gaining two First Prizes and Higher Diplomas in Piano and Chamber Music.
Her other Christmas passion is to stage performances of The Snowman, the Christmas fantasy based on the story by Raymond Briggs, music by Howard Blake. In 2018 The Snowman was complemented by a dip into "Christmas and the World of Jazz", offering much additional enjoyment to the adults in the audience.
Performances of The Snowman in the past have been paired with a commissioned opera by Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham, The Baboons Who Live By the River, and Carnival of the Animals, Peter and the Wolf, Tubby the Tuba, along with versions of Britten's Young Persons' Guide to the Orchestra.
Ian Forrester KC
Master of Ceremonies
Ian Forrester's musical abilities have long been recognised as modest, but he is accustomed to speaking in public attired in the exotic horsehair, silk and lace garb of a Scottish lawyer. Ian is also a trustee of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (a cultural ambassador of the European Union), and responsible worldwide for the pro bono practice of White & Case. This will be his tenth year as Master of Ceremonies.