Alphonse Stallaert

Alphonse Stallaert was born on March 1st in Helmond, Netherlands. He studied law to come up to his father's expectations, as his father, a banker who had set up a firm, wanted his children to take over. But he could not resist the call of music and eventually got his father to allow him to study music for just one year. Therefore, in 1941, he both learnt how to compose and conduct an orchestra at the Utrecht Conservatoire with respectively Hendrik Andriessen and Bertus Van Lier. Respecting his father's ultimatum, within one year, he got the diplomas which normally required two academic years. Armed with his diplomas, he conducted Philips firm's orchestra in Eindhoven for a year; then, in 1945, invited by Sir John Barbirolli, he underwent a period of training at the Halle-Orchestra in Manchester. He arrived in Paris in 1946 with only 100 francs on him, studied counterpoint for a year, rue de Madrid (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique) and was given conducting lessons by André Cluytens and composing lessons by Arthur Honegger. He then formed his own orchestra composed of 92 French musicians with whom he gave his first concert in Paris. Unfortunately, the following year, for want of subsidies, he had to turn his symphony orchestra into a string orchestra composed of 36 musicians. With "The Paris String Orchestra" (Orchestre à Cordes de Paris), he gave several concerts in Paris, and went on tour in his native country; among others, he performed in the large Amsterdam concert hall, the Concertgebouw. Unfortunately, he had to give up his passion for lack of money. Yet, he was asked to conduct French orchestras such as Lamoureux and Pasdeloup orchestras, as well as Dutch orchestras like the Brabant Orchestra, the Overijssel Philarmonic Orchestra and the Dutch Chamber Orchestra. In 1951, his first work "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" was performed at the Besancon festival by the R.T.F. National Orchestra (Orchestre National de la R.T.F.); it was conducted by Raphaël Kubelik and included the pianist Daniel Wayenberg. During the same music season, this concerto was performed again, successively by the Conservatoire Concert Society (Société des Concerts du Conservatoire), conducted by André Cluytens, and by the Pasdeloup Orchestra which was conducted by the composer himself. This creation was followed by several performances in France and in the Netherlands and Philips produced a record of the work performed by the Brabant Orchestra conducted by Heins Jordans. While giving private tuition, he composed the symphony "Les Ames Maudites", later entitled "Symphonia da Requiem", made two piano sketches for his friend D. Wayenberg, and an opera, "Myrdhinn" Read more / Source: http://www.stallaert.fr/index.php?p=biography