Annual report 2024: Presentation

Concerts in-house

In 2024, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra produced 70 concerts in-house, both in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and at other venues in Antwerp, where the orchestra undertook both promotion and ticket sales.

Front-of-house

The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra handles the entire audience experience during its concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in-house, relying on an extensive team of hosts. This ensures seamless integration between various audience functions during a concert evening, including selling programme booklets and guiding audience streams to introductions, signing sessions and meet-and-greets.

Groups

The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra attaches special value to clubs, which are an essential part of the social landscape in Flanders. In cooperation with local tourism partners, special and tailor-made group deals are developed to welcome these associations.

Thanks also to our academic and cultural partners and our alliance partners, we reach a significant number of concertgoers; for many of them it is their first visit
to a classical concert hall. For companies located around the Queen Elizabeth Hall, we have developed neighbourhood partnerships, allowing employees to attend selected concerts at preferential rates.

Custodian of the classical repertoire at  the Queen Elisabeth Hall

Elisabeth Klassiek

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra is not only the Queen Elisabeth Hall's resident orchestra, but also the guardian of the classical repertoire in the Golden Hall. ‘Elisabeth Klassiek’ is the hallmark awarded by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra to high-quality classical concerts.

Laureates of the Queen Elisabeth Competition

As one of the three Belgian musical institutions associated with the name of Queen Elisabeth, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, as resident orchestra of the Queen Elisabeth Hall, is pleased to offer a stage to laureates and winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. These talented artists can shine on the prestigious stage of the Golden Hall, together with a top-level orchestra.
In January, violinist Bomsori Kim (2015 laureate) was the central guest of the Elisabeth Week, and in November she left on tour with the orchestra. Ray Chen (First Prize 2009) and Akiko Suwanai (Second Prize 1989) also took to the Queen Elisabeth Hall stage with their violin. Pianists Sergei Babajan (1991 laureate) and Elisabeth Leonskaya (1968 laureate) joined the orchestra for performances of piano concertos by Schumann and Rachmaninov. Jan Michiels (1991 laureate) brought works by artist James Ensor to life in October, as part of the Ensor Year in Antwerp. Sunhae Im (laureate 2000) performed her voice at the Christmas Gala.

International guest orchestras

Also in 2024, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with Cofena vzw, hosted world-renowned international orchestras in its residence. With this operation, the orchestra expands the symphonic programme in Antwerp with a selection of top concerts that complement its own programme, and strengthens its own position in the international context.

These nine concerts also contributed to the aura of the Queen Elisabeth Hall and increased the visibility of Antwerp as a city of music in the international musical circuit. In 2024, we were pleased to welcome the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, National State Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Fundraising and partners

The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra actively involves the business community in its operations, giving companies the opportunity to commit to the orchestra. In addition, 2024 explicitly focused on cooperation with non-artistic partners. These partners can benefit from the orchestra's presence in the Queen Elisabeth Hall and take on an active role as cultural partners. For example, the concerts and masterclass with Simone Lamsma were made possible with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgium.

For the seventh year in a row, the orchestra made use of the Tax Shelter, raising €1,985,825 in 2024.

Instruments

Thanks to the generous support of the Entrepreneurs' Circle and the Patron's Guild, both through donations and long-term loans, we were able to continue investing in the development of our orchestral organisation and instrument heritage in 2024. A special acquisition last year was the cimbasso, an instrument ideally suited to the Italian repertoire. The instrument was immediately used successfully at our Annual Gala in September.