Lucas van Woerkum

Chief Creative Director & Executive Producer

Lucas van Woerkum (1982) directs drama films based on symphonic music and directs music documentaries. He studied French horn at Fontys Conservatory Tilburg and graduated in 2004 from the directing program of the Utrecht School of the Arts with the documentary film Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, which he made in close collaboration with internationally known filmmaker Frank Scheffer. His graduation film premiered in the Holland Festival and was shown in the Auditorium of the Louvre Museum in Paris. In 2007 he was selected by the Dutch Filmfund to direct the fiction film To Anna, which was released on television and in cinemas. Next to that Lucas directed music documentaries for television on the composers Arvo Pärt, Willem Jeths, Michel van der Aa and Alfons Diepenbrock.

Symphonic Cinema was introduced to the public in June 2010 with the film Sophia, based on a composition by Dirk Brossé. Shortly after Sophia became a great success, Lucas got commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to make the film Scale, le tombeau de Mahler on a composition by Willem Jeths. In 2011 the Symphonic Cinema film The Isle of the Dead, based on Die Toteninsel by Sergei Rachmaninov was performed with the Residentie Orchestra The Hague conducted by Jun Märkl. In 2012 The Isle of the Dead was shown in a special event in the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. In 2013 seven international orchestras commissioned Firebird, based on Stravinsky’s L’oiseau de Feu. In 2018, the new production of Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé premiered at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and had its Manchester premiere with the BBC Philharmonic. Until today both Firebird and Daphnis & Chloé are successfully touring around the world with recent highlights in Beijing, London, Brussels, Liège, Finland and Spain. Firebird will open season 2024/2025 with the Vancouver Symphony in September 2024. Lucas newest film The Echo of Being is based on the life of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. It stars the international acclaimed actors Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) and Amira Casar (Call Me by Your Name) and had its celebrated premiere in February 2020 with the Nederlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antony Hermus, opening the Concertgebouw’s Mahler Festival 2020. Currently Lucas is working on Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Hector Berlioz’ masterpiece Symphonie Fantastique.

Thomas Beijer

Filmmaker, Writer & Composer

By winning the Young Pianist Foundation National Piano Competition at the age of eighteen, Thomas Beijer (1988) was recognized early on as one of the most prominent and interesting musicians in his home country. The international jury characterized him as ‘an extremely interesting musical personality, with distinctive ideas about music. A true artist.’ Thomas studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Jan Wijn, where he graduated in 2011 with the highest distinction. He continued his piano studies with the Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats, and studied composition with a.o. Malcolm Singer and Elmer Schönberger. As a pianist, he performed in solo recitals, piano concertos and chamber music in most of the European countries, Asia, Russia and America. Among his most recent composition are the violin concerto ‘Concerto in Technicolor’, the song cycles ‘A Lock without a Key’ and ‘Undefined Earth’ and the symphonic poem ‘Bonfire with Wish Lantern and Rising Waltz’.

In February 2022, Thomas was awarded the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, the highest award for Dutch classical musicians, on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The jury called Thomas an ‘uomo universale’ and praised his excellent technique, his unique art of storytelling, and his ability to combine various art forms in a highly original manner. Besides his career as a pianist and a composer, Thomas is a novelist, screenwriter, animator and visual artist. In 2017 he made his debut as a novelist with Geen Jalapeños. Currently, he is working on a collection of music essays, which will be published in the fall of 2024.

Wim Lehnhausen

Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer

Dik van der Stroom

Chief Financial Officer & Executive Producer

Pieter Hunfeld

Director of Partnerships & Sales

Pieter Hunfeld was the driving force of the team that saved the Metropole Orkest from downfall by implementing a strong strategy and demonstrating support. Subsequently, he became the head of marketing and development during the Metropole Orchestra’s transition to independence and won more than 25 marketing awards, changing the orchestra’s reputation from a well-kept secret to ‘The World’s Leading Pop- and Jazz Orchestra’. Afterwards, he became the  broadcast manager at Classic FM to reposition the channel to classic.nl, and assisted many cultural institutions in developing new business models. In addition to being an entrepreneur in the cultural sector and a partner at agency KNYFE, Pieter is still 50% solo hornist of the Metropole Orkest.