Professional Career
He gave his New York debut recital on November 8, 1977 at the 92nd Street Y. His Van Cliburn Prize Carnegie Hall debut recital was held on December 12, 1977.
After winning the Van Cliburn, De Groote's international career took him all over the world. In the United States, he performed with orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra; in Canada, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; in Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (Baden-Baden), the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and in Britain, with nearly all the major British orchestras.
His debut, in 1981, at The Proms, playing Gershwin's Concerto in F with Andrew Litton conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was televised live by the BBC.
In 1983-1984, he toured the US as soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic conducted by Kazimierz Kord, and, in 1987, England with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg conducted by Hans Graf.
He worked with such distinguished conductors as Gerd Albrecht, Serge Baudo, Edo de Waart, Charles Dutoit, Jörg Faerber, Michael Gielen, Günther Herbig, Eugen Jochum, Bernard Klee, Kiril Kondrashin, Andrew Litton, Lorin Maazel, Karl Münchinger, Eugene Ormandy, Klaus Tennstedt, Antoni Wit, and David Zinman.
An accomplished chamber musician, he regularly partnered leading chamber ensembles such as the Guarneri Quartet and the Chilingirian Quartet (in which his brother Philip is the cellist).
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