Philippe Herreweghe, born in 1947, attended the Jesuit College of his native Ghent and studied piano at the Ghent Conservatory while also completing studies for a degree in medicine and psychiatry in 1975. Along with his university education, he undertook lessons in harpsichord, organ, and choral conducting. By 1971 he had already founded the Collegium Vocale. After a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in Amsterdam, Herreweghe received an invitation from Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt to participate with his Collegium Vocale ensemble on their collaborative recording of the complete Bach cantatas. In 1977 Philippe Herreweghe founded the Chapelle Royale to specialize in interpreting French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Herreweghe widened his historical radius in 1991 with the establishment of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, which performs works of the classical and romantic eras on original instruments, occasionally encompassing Bruckner and Mahler. As well as working with his own ensembles, Herreweghe also appears with traditional symphonu orchestras. He has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and the Hilversum Radio Philharmonic. He has moreover been music directr of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic since 1997, and between 1982 and 2002 he directed the Saintes Festival. He is the recipient of numerous honors. In 1991 he was chosen as European Musician of the Year, and in 1994 he was named Officier des Arts et Lettres; in 1997 he received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Löwen and in 2003 was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. In that year he was given a noble title by the King of Belgium.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on April 16, 1992 in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with La Chapelle Royale Paris and the Collegium Vocale Gent. Previous appearance was on August 22, 2006 with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and the Collegium Vocale Gent in works of Mozart.