The Orchestra Academy offers students from Belgium's eight conservatories and music schools the opportunity to complement their training with a professional experience, enabling them to make the link with the reality of the stage. After a pre-selection process at the conservatory and an audition, the Orchestra Academy offers selected students a double orchestral internship - with the Belgian National Orchestra and the Orchestre symphonique de La Monnaie - where they can take part in an opera production or a symphony concert with La Monnaie and a symphony concert with the Belgian National Orchestra, each time with individual coaching.
"What an amazing opportunity! (...) I remember the first day in rehearsal, how friendly everybody was – the 1st clarinet soloist, the whole section and all the musicians of the orchestra. Before we started, I remember they announced "We welcome our academist Alexandros Vlachos", which was an amazing motivation to prove why I was there."
Students can also take part in chamber music projects with musicians from the orchestra, exclusive masterclasses with leading soloists, special workshops, meet & greets, special projects and more. Young musicians can also attend all Belgian National Orchestra concerts and La Monnaie performances for free.
Students are admitted by audition in the spring of the previous academic year, with a jury made up of musicians from both orchestras. To take part in the project, students must be enrolled at a conservatory or music college in Belgium in the year of their participation. Registration for the auditions is done via the conservatories, not individually. Initially, students are selected through an internal audition at their conservatory. Then, a maximum of 25 students per conservatory (10 strings and 15 winds, harmony, harp, percussion) can take part in auditions held alternately at the BNO or La Monnaie. Students who pass the auditions join the Orchestra Academy for one season.
Students can receive ECTS credits recognized by their conservatory for participating in Orchestra Academy. If the experience of certain students proves particularly positive, they may be hired as temporary extras, at the end of their internship with the orchestra.
A project in synergy with the Belgian National Orchestra and La Monnaie/De Munt.
For more information, please contact noella@nationalorchestra.be.