Neerpelt is a town in Pelt and a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. In 2018, the municipality had a total population of 17,174. The total area is 42.78 km2.
John Patitucci is an American jazz bassist and composer.
John Laird Abercrombie was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.
Randal Edward Brecker is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B.
Cinema of Belgium refers to the film industry based in Belgium. Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany. Belgium is further a federal country made up of three regions and three language communities . Due to these linguistic and political divisions it is difficult to speak of a national, unified Cinema of Belgium. It would be more appropriate to talk about Flemish or Dutch-language cinema of Belgium and Walloon or French-language cinema of Belgium.
Stijn, Baron Coninx is a Belgian film director.
Dirk, Knight Brossé is a Belgian conductor and composer. He has composed over 200 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works. Brossé has also composed extensively for stage, cinema, television. His score for the BBC/HBO series Parade's End (2012) was nominated for an Emmy Award. Dirk Brossé is currently music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and of the Ghent Film Festival. John Williams chose him as Principal Conductor of the Star Wars in Concert World Tour. Brossé is also professor of composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. Dirk Brossé has conducted international orchestras, both at home and abroad. Amongst them, the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic orchestra, Vancouver Opera, Opéra National de Lyon, BBC Concert Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Basel, Madrid, Porto, Birmingham, Ulster, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Queensland, St Petersburg, Los Angeles and Boston. In 2008, he made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, at the request of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he wrote The Hallow-e'en Dances. This Halloween-inspired work is especially written for age-old, traditional Chinese instruments. Brossé recently composed Haiku Cycle 1, written for Jessye Norman and based on Haiku by Herman Van Rompuy.
Rocco Granata is an Italian-Belgian singer, songwriter, and accordionist.
The Public Choice Award for the Best Score of the Year is an award by the World Soundtrack Academy. Each year, the general public votes for the nominees and the award is presented at the annual World Soundtrack Awards. The category has existed since 2001, but there was not a winner nor a vote for 2003's ceremony.
Sister Smile is a Belgian-French biographical drama film directed by Stijn Coninx and written by Coninx, Ariane Fert and Chris Vander Stappen. The film stars Cécile de France as Jeannine Deckers, also known as The Singing Nun. The film won the Magritte Award for Best Costume Design.
When the Light Comes is a 1998 German-Dutch /Belgian romantic adventure film drama directed by Stijn Coninx, and starring Francesca Vanthielen, Joachim Król and Rick Engelkes. The film is based on an autobiography of the then 19-year-old student in Amsterdam Heleen van der Laan who spent the winter in Svalbard living with a fur trapper. It was adapted for the screen with the aid of Jean van de Velde. Essentially a love story set in northern Scandinavia, the film has "themes of isolation, forced cohabitation and relationship building between two totally different people in extremely harsh living conditions". The score was composed by Dirk Brossé and the film was produced by Favourite Films and distributed by Concorde Film.
Didier François is a Belgian musician specialized in nyckelharpa and a sculptor living in Mechelen in Belgium.
Frank Van Passel is a Belgian film director and producer. In 1995, he made his directorial film debut with Manneken Pis, which premiered at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and won the Mercedes-Benz Award, Grand Golden Rail, Award of the Youth and the Prix Guillermo del Toro. The film received the André Cavens Award for Best Film and four awards at the Joseph Plateau Awards. Van Passel's next film, Villa des Roses (2002), was adapted from the 1913 novella of the same name by Belgian writer Willem Elsschot. The film starred Julie Delpy, Shaun Dingwall and Shirley Henderson. It won Best Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival and was nominated for three awards at the British Independent Film Awards. His TV-series received numerous awards, including a Special Commendation Prix d'Europe and the FIPA D'OR Grand Prize in Biarritz for The Emperor of Taste and the TV-critics Award and De HA! van Humo for Terug naar Oosterdonk. He was co-founder of Caviar, a production company with offices in Brussels, Antwerp, Los Angeles, Paris, Amsterdam, London and Prague. Since 2018 he has been working as a freelance director, directing theatre and TV series such as Dag Sinterklaas (Ketnet) and Renaissances (TF1).
Marina is a biographical film released in 2013 and directed by Stijn Coninx. The film is based upon the life of the Italian singer Rocco Granata who moved to Belgium when he was a young boy. It features Matteo Simoni as Rocco Granata and Evelien Bosmans as Helena. Most part of the film is in Italian as Rocco's parents did not speak the Dutch language. Other parts are in Dutch and some dialogues in French and English.
Jelle Florizoone is a Belgian actor and dancer. He is best known for his roles as Pim in the film North Sea Texas (2011) and Rick in the children's series ROX (2011–2015).
Andy Middleton is an American tenor and soprano jazz saxophonist. He has recorded with Ralph Towner, Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Renee Rosnes, Jamey Haddad, Joey Calderazzo, and Alan Jones.
"Marina" is a 1959 Italian song by Italian-Belgian singer-songwriter Rocco Granata, his first international hit and best known song. Originally released in 1959 as the B-side of "Manuela", the B-side became more played than the A-side, and by 30 January "Marina" interrupted "Oh! Carol" by Neil Sedaka for one week at the No.1 spot of Hitkrant's List of European number-one hits of 1960. The song sold millions of copies.
It was #1 in Belgium, #31 in the US, and #1 in Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Norway.
It was the #2 jukebox play of the whole year in Automaten-Markt's records after "Seemann" by Lolita.
GRP All-Star Big Band is a jazz album by the big band of the same name. The album was nominated for the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards.
Sea of Silence is a 2003 Belgian drama film directed by Stijn Coninx. It was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
