Philippe Elan was born in Gascogne, in the south west of France, in 1960 and moved to the Netherlands in 1986. In that same year he was off to a flying start by winning the chanson competition of the Alliance Française.
Ever since, he has frequently given solo programmes of French chansons in theatres together with arranger, producer and regular accompanist Reyer Zwart. He also appears with artists such as Cor Bakker, Louis van Dijk and Laura Fygi. In 2013 Philippe joined forces with the Amstel Quartet, a unique saxophone formation that gives concerts all over the world. Besides working with jazz and pop musicians, Philippe has frequently appeared on classical venues with groups such as the Gemini Ensemble, the Holland Symfonia (2009), the Johan Willem Friso Kapel (2013) and the Metropole Orkest (2015). Philippe is a frequent guest on radio and television programmes, where he champions the French chanson.
Over the years, Philippe has made 12 albums and 2 DVDs. In 2014 he released the single L’été est là, an up tempo pop number produced by Eddy Ouwens. This cheerful chanson placed him in the top ten of the Dutch Top 40.
In 2015, he was a soloist in the successful operatic production Vive la France, and appeared in collaboration with the Amstel Quartet. Together they released a CD, Sax avec Elan. Together with the Gemini Ensemble, Philippe received an Edison award for their album Chansons classiques.
A performance with the Amstel Quartet in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in July 2016 was followed later that year by a series of concerts with Thérèse Steinmetz, and their joint CD production Amsterdam-Paris (Philippe’s eleventh album), under the musical direction of Nico van der Linden, was greeted with jubilant reviews.
In the spring of 2017 Philippe was a soloist in the operatic production Vive la France #2”, which toured 50 Dutch theatres. In autumn 2017 Philippe was again on stage in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, this time with Thérèse Steinmetz.
The summer of 2018 saw the issue of the successful single En rêve on se voit and Philippe immediately set out on a long concert season, one which continued until the end of August 2019! In February 2019 Philippe gave an exclusive concert with the Residentie Orchestra in Paard, in The Hague, conducted by Jurjen Hempel, and in March his new EP came out, a joint effort with Thérèse Steinmetz and the Amstel Quartet, Manège à trois.

Residentie Orkest The Hague proves that even in the 21st century, symphonic music can still be meaningful to large and diverse audiences. Its reputation as one of the finest orchestras in Europe makes it an appropriate figurehead for The Hague as a cosmopolitan city of justice, peace, and culture. The orchestra performs concert series in the Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen and in addition performs at venues such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht and De Doelen in Rotterdam. Special crossover and innovative productions are also provided at The Hague’s prominent pop venue Paard van Troje throughout the season. The Residentie Orkest performs regularly at various other major concert halls abroad. Tours have brought the orchestra to New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Vienna amongst others and the orchestra also performed in countries like Japan, China, Germany, France and South America. There are also many prolific collaborations with a wide range of partners, including the Dutch National Theatre, Gemeentemuseum and the Dutch National Opera. Recent seasons have seen a much acclaimed production of Messiaen’s rarely performed opera Saint François d’Asisse and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.

A rich history Since its first concert in 1904, the Residentie Orkest has developed into one of the prominent symphony orchestras of The Netherlands. Founded by Dr Henri Viotta, who was also its first principal conductor, it quickly attracted composers like Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Max Reger, Maurice Ravel, Paul Hindemith and Vincent d’Indy. Guest conductors included Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein and Hans Knappertsbusch.

After World War II, Willem van Otterloo was appointed chief conductor. He led the orchestra from 1949 to 1973 and built a strong reputation by combining high-quality performances with adventurous programming. Van Otterloo was succeeded by Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden and Neeme Järvi.

Chief conductor Starting season 2018/2019 Nicholas Collon is chief conductor and artistic advisor of the Residentie Orkest. Richard Egarr will join the orchestra as principal guest conductor in 2019. Until the summer of 2019 Jan Willem de Vriend will act as principal conductor.