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
Ian Forrester KC - Narrator
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 and more
recently in the sober gown of
judges of the European Courts in
Luxembourg. Ian is also a trustee
of the European Union Baroque
Orchestra (a cultural ambassador
of the European Union).
This will be his eighth year as
Snowman narrator.
Mary Gow - Organiser & Pianist
Mary comes from Wellington, New
Zealand. She holds the degrees of BA
and B Mus from Victoria University,
Wellington together with the LRSM
and FTCL diplomas in piano. She
studied for five years at the Royal
Conservatorium of Brussels.
Former productions of The Snowman
have been teamed with a commissioned
work 'The Baboons who live
by the River', by Alexander McCall
Smith and Tom Cunningham; Carnival
of the Animals; Peter and the Wolf;
Tubby the Tuba; and versions of
Britten's Young Persons' Introduction
to the Orchestra. In addition to
The Snowman, Mary's other
Christmas passion is The Brussels Carol concert which will be held this
year on Sunday 18 December.
Russian pianist Nikolai Saratovsky is her newest project, organising concerts and representing him in New Zealand and Belgium.
