The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel Appoints New CEO

Grégor Chapelle will assume the role, effective as of April 29, 2024

Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (MUcH) is a public interest foundation and center for artistic training for outstanding young musicians in the disciplines of piano, violin, cello, chamber music, and voice.

As the Music Chapel’s new CEO, Grégor Chapelle will take office on April 29, 2024. He will succeed Bernard de Launoit, who held the role for nearly 20 years and helped the organization reach international heights. 

Chappelle holds a master’s in law from the University of Louvain and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. 

From 2011 to 2021, he served as CEO of Actiris, the public employment service agency for the Brussels-Capital Region, and was appointed CEO of the non-profit Kick Belgium from 2021 to 2023. 

Previously, he worked as a lawyer at the Brussels Bar, as an associate at McKinsey & Company, and as a Deputy Mayor for Employment and the Economy in the Brussels-Capital Region’s City of Forest. 

With his extensive leadership experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, Chapelle will guide the MuCH team to continue creating optimal conditions for its young artists. 

“We are delighted to welcome Grégor to lead the team at the Music Chapel,” said MUcH’s board chair Michel Delbaere in the press release. “His inexhaustible dynamism, his ability to mobilize people and his strategic vision are undeniable qualities to steer us into the future and further develop our institution. We share Grégor’s musical feeling and his goal of excellence at a European scale and beyond. We trust that Bernard’s legacy is in good hands.” 

“Grégor’s appointment marks a continuation of the tireless work that my brother [Bernard] carried out together with the Music Chapel’s entire team to turn it into a flagship of musical excellence recognized globally,” added board member Yvan de Launoit. “Grégor’s passion and humanism makes him the ideal leader to grow the Music Chapel’s current and potential assets, expand its sphere of activities, and attract new artists and audiences.” 

“I am eager to contribute to the art piece that Bernard de Launoit created together with so many who joined him, attracted by his enthusiasm,” Chapelle expressed. “My motivation is rooted in my desire to serve beauty, elevate teamwork and continue building a haven of peace. I believe deeply in music as a means toward well-being and social inclusion, but also as an ideal: music as a universal language of peace and a language of hope for the planet.”

The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel involves a network of nearly 70 young artists in residence and associate artists representing over 25 nationalities, as well as nine masters in residence, guest masters, and more than 300 concerts open to the public in Belgium and abroad.