BCE Founders
United by their passion for music and law, Despoina, Ina, and Clio met while working as lawyers for the EU institutions. They founded a Piano Trio in the summer of 2021, and then decided to spread their love for music more broadly at the beginning of 2022, by founding the Brussels Chamber Ensemble.
With BCE’s inception linked to the EU institutions, this is also where the search for musicians started. The founders had a feeling there would be quite a number of musicians out there disguised as lawyers, engineers, and translators. While several members of the orchestra are indeed from the Commission, the Council, and one from the European Parliament, around half are students or graduates from Belgian conservatories, especially from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. The rest are high-level amateurs.
For both the founders and the musicians, this meeting of worlds has felt very special. The orchestra unites so many different communities that are living together in Brussels: from high school students (our youngest orchestra member is just 18!) to retirees, from the Belgian to the European and more international Brussels community, from amateurs to professionals—all are united in this orchestra by their love for music-making.
BCE had its Opening Concert in October 2022 in BOZAR, with an amazing ensemble that was put together within just a few months, most of which are still playing in the BCE. All of this, combined with how much we have all enjoyed each other’s company, made it clear that there is a place for BCE in the Brussels music scene.
With its roots in the institutions, it felt like the perfect idea for the BCE to then connect its programme to the rotating Council Presidency. In this way, we are able to discover and promote music from all the different Member States of the EU. This time around, we get to enjoy beautiful Hungarian music, and next spring, Poland is up. We hope to meet you again there!
Meet our BCE Board
With our BCE founders, Despoina, Ina, and Clio, the current board has been reinforced with two BCE members from day one, Laura and Martin.
Clio Zois
Clio started her musical education studying piano and flute under Carmen-Elena Rotaru and Denis-Pierre Gustin.
She obtained her Piano Licentiate Diploma from Trinity College London with distinction and won multiple awards for both instruments.
Clio discovered conducting during a workshop organised by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and followed multiple conducting masterclasses, amongst others at Julliard School Extension.
Aside from working with the BCE, Clio is currently the Principal Conductor of the Association Philharmonique d’Uccle, Assistant Director to the Brussels Choral Society (Belgium’s largest amateur choir), and also conducts BachWerk chamber choir and ensemble on a rolling basis.
Ina Söderlund
Ina has played the violin since she was 5 years old, first for Marja Korpela and then Grazyna Zeranska-Gebert.
She has also played in various orchestras in her native country Finland (most notably the Tapiola Youth Symphony Orchestra) and elsewhere (i.a. Orkester Norden and Orchestra Sinfonica del Festival di Chioggia) and participated in Masterclasses i.a. in Bled (Slovenia), Chioggia (Italy) and Kuhmo (Finland).
Despina Kornilaki
Despina obtained her cello diploma in 2010 with Prof. Dmitry Gudimov before continuing to the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with cellist Larissa Groeneveld until 2011.
She has played with professional and student orchestras in Greece since the age of 14 and continued playing with Dutch university orchestras during her law studies.
She has been awarded first and second prizes in various competitions in Greece and took part in masterclasses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Martin Höflmayr
Martin started playing trumpet at the age of 11 and completed his musical training with the gold performance badge of the Austrian Wind Music Association on the trumpet (2007) and the bugle (2009).
He did his military service with the Salzburg Military Band and played with several orchestras on his career path, including the Academic Symphonic Orchestra in Vienna, the Young Symphonic Orchestra in Frankfurt and the various ensembles in London.
Martin has been a member of the Brussels Chamber Ensemble from day one and eager to contribute to this orchestra that unites so many different communities that are living together here in Brussels.
Laura Esnaola
Laura started playing the violin at age 4 and was privileged to learn from exceptional teachers across the globe, including Hyo Kang, Yfrah Neaman and the Tokyo String Quartet. She has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster in emblematic concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Gewandhaus and Berlin Philharmonie, where she played under conductor Sir Simon Rattle.
Laura graduated from the Conservatorio El Escorial in Madrid at the age of 16 while attending the German School of Madrid and moved to the US to pursue a dual degree - a Bachelor in Economics and a Master in Music - at Yale University, and subsequently received an MBA at MIT. Over the years, Laura has continued giving concerts internationally while working in the start-up world, particularly around social impact projects.
In 2016, she became CEO of Care.com’s International business in Berlin and has since launched several start-ups and nonprofits of her own. She has received numerous awards for music, including the First Price at Jugend Musiziert at age 14 as well as for business, such as “Top 40 under 40” Managers in Germany.
Laura has lived, worked and performed in over 35 countries, is thrilled to be living in Brussels with her family, and to be involved with BCE’s mission to promote Europe’s musical talent and culture.
Meet our Orchestra
The Brussels Chamber Ensemble consists of professional and semi-professional musicians, all enjoined by their love for music-making.
First violins:
Yuichiro Haruno (concertmaster), Athanase Nikolaidis, Clara Laurrari, Dorothee Starck, Emese Karpatí, Irina Baudewyns, Isabelle Combes, Lisa Walker, Muriel Delale, Stephanie Chan, Violeta Fernandez Torres, Wiebke Pankauke
Second violins:
Vanessa di Fine, Annie Rose Deegan, Bendedicte Havelange, Hiroshi Loeurng, Judit Krommer, Niccolò Fantini, Noa Van Bel, Orla Daly, Paulina Bury, Simon-Marin Ghys, Tania Schröter
Violas:
Lucía Alonso Hernández, Anne-Clara Meister, Heather Grabbe, Katelijn Deknopper, Minghui Yu, Sam Wijnbergen, Sofia Capraru Matulic
Celli:
Blanca Sanchez, Céline Gauer, Despoina Kornilaki, Elena Patino Jimenez, Géraldine Coop, Jan Zdrálek Gross, Liv Martin, Ruben Ravier
Double bass:
Kevin Conru, Mattia Massolini, Tina ZHAO
Flutes:
Ieva Langaite, Marion Chenuet
Oboes:
Joel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez, Mencía Fernández Rivera
Clarinets:
Abby Tress, Leidy Mendez
Bassoons:
Diedelinde Buffel Linskens
Horns:
Jöran Westerbeek, Théa Lima
Trumpets:
Maria Batista, Martin Höflmayr
Percussion:
Stefano Romoli
BCE Friends
Our, so far, four concerts would not have been possible without tremendous help from so many people and generous financial support by BCE friends.
Polish Music Information Centre (POLMIC): established as the
Library of the Polish Composers’ Union, POLMIC has become
Poland’s representative in the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC).
The Dutch Embassy: for generously sponsoring our Belgian Concert with a Cultural Grant and for hosting our general rehearsals at their beautiful premises.
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce: for generously inviting the BCE to play in a chamber music concert honouring Spanish Composers.
The Liszt Institute - Hungarian Cultural Center Brussels: operating under the auspices of the Hungarian Embassy, generously supported and sponsored the BCE Composer Competition for Hungarian Composers, won by Marthon Wirth.
Fernando Florindo Gijon for being our first official “Ami de BCE”.
Pierre Dubuisson for his invaluable advice and guidance.