Jos Van Immerseel strikes back

Jos Van Immerseel has contested the allegations made against him after being ousted from Anima Eterna, the orchestra he founded. Earlier this week, the Bruges-based period-instrument orchestra announced it was parting ways with its founder due to "ongoing aggressive behavior" and "regular breaches of his contractual obligations." The orchestra stated that Van Immerseel had "repeatedly ignored the values he has shared with Anima Eterna for many years." According to a board member interviewed by the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, Van Immerseel "became increasingly critical of guest conductors and the artistic vision they were developing with the orchestra, expressing his views in an unconstructive manner."

After Van Immerseel's retirement a few years ago, it was decided that three principal conductors—Pablo Heras-Casado, Midori Seiler, and Bart Van Reyn—would take turns leading the orchestra. It was also agreed that the founder would continue with certain projects. However, Joost Maes, a member of the board of directors, claimed that Van Immerseel did not respect certain aspects of these projects. For instance, he cited an upcoming project in January around Fauré and Liszt, for which the preparation has been uncertain due to Van Immerseel's unreliability.

The Board of Directors has also criticized Van Immerseel's behavior, alleging that he "aggressively contacted people internally, making derogatory remarks about conductors, board members, and permanent staff, using threatening language." They added, "He will be 80 next year, and we wanted to honor him in style, but he has made that impossible."

In response, Van Immerseel disputes this version of events. "My dismissal hit me like a bomb. It's also a theft of my livelihood; I no longer have an income," he said. He criticized the Board for sending a letter to all orchestra members, calling it "inhuman." He added, "It's absurd to think that I would have ignored the values of the orchestra. I founded Anima Eterna myself and invested my own money to keep it afloat. I formally protest against the content and form of this press release. It is an abuse of power and intimidation, an assassination of my life's work. It could only have been written by people who were ill-informed or misled."

Van Immerseel also claims that the guest conductors were appointed without his agreement. "I only agreed to appoint Giovanni Antonini for one production a year, but he only did two projects before they terminated the agreement. So the only conductor I agreed with is no longer there. I'm very happy with Midori Seiler, one of the three guest conductors at the moment. I'm not enthusiastic about the other two. As an artistic colleague, I'm entitled to have an opinion about them. We don't live in Russia, do we?"

He denies having withdrawn voluntarily, stating, "What I've said is that I'm going to take partial retirement. I don't want to conduct all the concerts anymore, so we have to appoint a guest conductor. But otherwise, as artistic director, I should continue to decide on artistic matters, and in this, I am not respected." He signed a contract in April asking him, as honorary artistic director, to advise guest conductors at their express request, but he claims, "nobody asks me to do that."

As the situation potentially moves toward legal action, Van Immerseel has hired a lawyer, Walter Damen, who stated, "My client expressly declares that the allegations are defamatory and untrue. Consequently, we will take the necessary legal action."