Musical Director

Eric Delson, Musical Director of the Brussels Choral Society, has been involved in musical composition, conducting, and music education for more than 20 years. A native of Cleveland, Ohio (USA), Dr Delson holds a Bachelors of Music in Music Theory and Composition from the Ohio State University (1987). Shortly thereafter, he moved to Boston to undertake composition studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, earning a Master of Music in Composition in 1989. Upon graduating from Boston University (BU) with a Doctorate in Musical Arts (1996), Delson was awarded the Esther B. Kahn Career Entry Award, the highest award granted by the BU School for the Arts. Dr Delson has studied composition with Lukas Foss, Marjorie Merryman, Thomas Wells, and Marshall Barnes, instrumental conducting with Craig Kirchoff and Harvey Benstein, and choral conducting with Lorna Cooke DeVaron and Constantina Tsolainou, among others.

In the spring of 1995, David Hoose and the Boston University Symphony Orchestra premiered Delson’s Symphony No. 1 in Boston’s Tsai Performance Center. His European premiere followed a year later when, as part of the Esbjerg Ensemble’s Composer Workshop in Denmark, the Esbjerg Ensemble performed his Kammermusik, Op. 7. That same year, Czech composer Ladislav Kubik invited Dr Delson to attend the Czech-American Composer’s Seminar in Prague, where his work was presented at the Antonin Dvorak Museum. In 2000, Delson spent a season in Baden-Baden (Germany), serving as composer-in-residence at the invitation of the Brahmsgesellschaft.

As a conductor, Dr Delson has performed in Belgium, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and throughout the United States of America. Delson’s works have been published by Lawson-Gould Music Publishers and Frank E. Warren Music Service, and his compositions for piano, chamber ensemble, and orchestra are performed regularly in Europe and the USA. In addition to various commissions in the USA, Delson composed Bach, Blech & Blues in Bamberg, Germany (members of the Bamberger Symphoniker) for the Brussels Choral Society. The BCS premiered his Holiday Triptych (1999), and also his Lullaby for Louise, which was composed in 2004 to celebrate the birth of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium’s first child.

Dr Delson is currently the Head of the Performing Arts Department at the International School of Brussels. Previously, he taught Music Theory, History, Composition, and Choral Music at the New England Conservatory, Boston University, and several other private institutions in Boston and New York. Delson has been the Musical Director of the Brussels Choral Society since 2002, having previously served as its Assistant Director (1998-2002). He lives in Brussels with his wife and two daughters.