PETER H. GISTELINCK, OFFICER
Mr. Gistelinck is the Executive Director of the renowned Wharton Arts in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Prior to joining Wharton Arts in 2019, he served as the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra’s President & CEO (2014-2019) and Executive Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (2006-2014). Prior immigrating to the USA in 2006, Mr. Gistelinck was Director of Sales and Marketing and Co-Artistic Director for the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra in Belgium and General Manager of Business Affairs at Le Concert Spirituel in Paris, France.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Gistelinck has made a difference within the music and overall entertainment industry, not only as a seasoned arts administrator and turnaround professional, but also as an accomplished music producer, composer and arranger. He has numerous credits to his name having worked as Executive and Artistic Producer on many recording projects and concert productions including for Le Concert Spirituel, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, I Fiamminghi, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Marvin Hamlisch, Michel Legrand, Alberto Iglesias, Plácido Domingo. Phil Ramone, Philip Webb, J. Mark McVey, Jessye Norman, Gamble & Huff, Paul Schaffer, Angel Blue, All-4-One, Kevin Cole and on behalf of various major record labels like Sony Classical, EMI Classics, Philips Classics, RCA/Ariola (BMG), Universal Music, Deutsche Grammophon, Reader’s Digest World Music Services, Concord, amongst many others. A highlight in Mr. Gistelinck’s early artistic career was a formal commission by the Royal Palace of Belgium as composer, arranger and producer of The King’s Ballet, a children’s ballet including a CD release that commemorated the 60th birthday and 40th anniversary on the throne for King Baldwin I, former King of Belgium. Mr. Gistelinck has also written works for music education, including “Great Songs from Musicals” and “Romantic Latin”, each published by De Haske Publications in Europe and Hal Leonard in the USA.
As a graduate of the State University of Ghent, Belgium, Mr. Gistelinck earned a MA in Musicology and a BA in History of Arts, respectively. Prior to earning his degrees, he graduated from the Royal Music Conservatory of Ghent. Mr. Gistelinck also holds the ‘Executive Certificate in Leadership’ from the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University and the ‘Business of Change Certificate’ from Columbia Business School at Columbia University.
He speaks Flemish/Dutch, French, English and German.
Mr. Gistelinck currently serves as a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (aka The Recording Academy/Grammy Awards), Santa Monica, CA; International Academy of Jazz @ University of Pittsburgh, PA; International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), New York, NY; American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, CA; and the Alliance Française of Westchester, NY; in addition to his affiliations with several music publishing and author rights organizations.
Mr. Gistelinck had the honor and privilege to collaborate with Mr. Hamlisch in 2008, and is also the Artistic producer of the ‘Play It Again, Marvin!’ recording project, which was worldwide released in 2018 by Varèse-Sarabande (Concord). Most recently Mr. Gistelinck was contracted as the Artistic Producer for the new and upcoming original cast album of “The Nutty Professor”, the last musical composed by the late Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics and book by Rupert Holmes on an original idea by Jerry Lewis.
In his spare time, Mr. Gistelinck stages as a Chef at the ** Michelin restaurant Blue Hill @ Stone Barns in Tarrytown, NY under the mentorship of Founding Chef Dan Barber and Executive Chefs Kylie Milar and Nick Hukezalie.