Emile Souvagie - clarinet

Emile Souvagie (1999) currently serves as the principal clarinetist of the Brussels Philharmonic. Previously, he held the same position at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. He was also a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra and an academist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra during the 2022-2023 season. This gave him the opportunity to collaborate with distinguished conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Klaus Mäkelä, Lahav Shani, Maxim Emelyanychev, Barbara Hannigan, and Daniel Harding.

In June 2023, Souvagie became the first musician from outside the Commonwealth to win the Gold Medal Prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition held at Wigmore Hall in London.

He obtained degrees in both clarinet and early music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under the tutelage of Benjamin Dieltjens. Additionally, he furthered his studies with Hermann Stefánsson at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and with Ralph Manno at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne.

Souvagie performed as principal clarinet with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the Belgian National Orchestra, and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. On historical instruments, he has performed with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and as a part of the Collegium Vocale Academy.

As a founding member of the Firgun Ensemble, he has won first prizes at the Storioni Willem II Competition 2018 in 's-Hertogenbosch (NL) and the Supernova 2022 Competition in Antwerp. He is a regular guest with the RCO Camerata and a member of the Cortenbach Trio with cellist Florianne Remme and pianist Alexander Declercq.

In 2022 Souvagie was one of "De Twintigers," a recognition given by Klara, the Belgian classical radio station.
He is a NextGeneration Artist with I Solisti, the Belgian Wind Ensemble Antwerp.