Emmanuel Villaume (born 1964 in Strasbourg, France) is a French orchestra conductor. He is currently music director of the Dallas Opera and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia.
Villaume began his musical education at the Strasbourg Conservatory. He continued his studies in Paris at Khâgne and the Sorbonne where he studied literature, philosophy and musicology. At age 21, he became stage manager and dramaturg at the Opéra National du Rhin, where he met Spiros Argiris, who was then the music director of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. Villaume subsequently studied conducting with Argiris, and later became an assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa. [1]
Villaume made his American conducting debut in 1990 with Le nozze di Figaro at the Spoleto Festival USA. He was named music director for opera and orchestra of the Spoleto Festival USA in October 2000, [1] and held the post from 2001 to 2010. [2] He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2002 conducting the Montreal Symphony. He first conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in September 2004 in Madama Butterfly . [3] Villaume first conducted at Dallas Opera in 1998. He made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2007. In April 2013, Villaume was named music director of the Dallas Opera, with immediate effect. [4] [5] In November 2015, the Dallas Opera announced that Villaume's contract as music director had been extended through June 2022.
Internationally, Villaume made his Orchestre de Paris debut in 2000 as well as his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducting Les Contes d'Hoffmann in October 2000. In January 2007 he made his conducting debut at La Fenice in Venice with Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto . He became chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, [6] and held the post through 2013. [7] He became chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic in 2009, and held the post through 2016. [7] In October 2014, the Prague Philharmonia announced the appointment of Villaume as its fourth chief conductor, effective with the 2015-2016 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. [8]
Villaume holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis. [9]
Ileana Cotrubaș is a Romanian operatic soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages.
Armin Jordan was a Swiss conductor known for his interpretations of French music, Mozart and Wagner.
John Wilton Nelson is an American conductor. His parents were Protestant missionaries.
Keri-Lynn Wilson is a Canadian conductor of operatic and symphonic repertoire. She is the founder and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.
Nicola Luisotti is an Italian conductor. He currently holds the title "Director Principal Invitado" of Madrid's Teatro Real.
Giacomo Puccini's Messa or Messa a quattro voci is a Mass composed for orchestra and four-part choir with tenor and baritone soloists. Strictly speaking, the piece is a full Mass, not a true Messa di Gloria.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.
The PKF – Prague Philharmonia is a Czech orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues in Prague, including the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, the Church of St. Simon and Jude, the Švanda Theatre in Smíchov and the Salon Philharmonia. The orchestra receives government and civic sponsorship from the Czech Ministry of Culture, the City of Prague and the Prague 1 Municipal Authority.
The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi is an Italian orchestra based in Milan. The orchestra refers to itself as La Verdi colloquially. The orchestra's primary residence is the Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo.
Andrew von Oeyen is a concert pianist. He is a citizen of the United States and France.
Piotr Beczała ; born 28 December 1966) is a Polish operatic tenor with an international career based primarily in Europe and the United States. He has performed in the world's leading opera houses including Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Royal Opera House, Semperoper, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin and is particularly known for his portrayals of characters from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 2015, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his artistic achievements.
Nello Santi was an Italian conductor. He was associated with the Zürich Opera House for six decades, and was a regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He was focused on Italian repertoire, especially operas by Verdi and Puccini, in a style following the tradition of Toscanini. He made sound and video recordings of Italian operas, including in 1971 Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes, in 1976 Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re with Anna Moffo, Domingo and Pablo Elvira, in 2000 Verdi's I due Foscari, and in 2006 Donizetti's Don Pasquale in a Zürich production. Santi conducted from memory, and said "I love all of Verdi, but when he composed Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata he was in a profound state of grace."
Richard Troxell is an American operatic tenor who has sung leading roles in the opera houses of North America, Europe, and Asia since his professional debut in 1993. His signature roles include Lt. Pinkerton, which he sang in Frédéric Mitterrand's 1995 film Madame Butterfly presented by Martin Scorsese, and Don José in Carmen which he has sung at the Sydney Opera House, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Italy, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
Jonathan Philip Darlington is a British conductor, Music Director Emeritus of the Vancouver Opera and the former Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He is known for his broad repertoire of both opera and symphonic music and appears regularly with major orchestras and opera houses, most notably the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, Frankfurt Oper, Orchestre National de France, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica del San Carlo di Napoli, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and Opera Australia.
John Neal Axelrod is a Swiss/American conductor. In 2024, Axelrod was named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the newly created Swiss National Orchestra. Axelrod was elected Principal Conductor of the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra in a unique open ended contract in 2022. From 2019 to 2023 He was Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. He was also elected Artistic and musical director of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville in 2014 and is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, "Giuseppe Verdi", also known as "LaVerdi". Between 2009 and 2013, Axelrod was music director of l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, based in Nantes and Angers, France; and from 2009 to 2011, Axelrod served as music director of "Hollywood In Vienna" Gala Concerts with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna. He has also served as music director and Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2009, and from 2001 to 2009 as Principal Guest Conductor of Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Laurence Dale is an English tenor, artistic director and conductor.
Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (L.73/CD.72), is a composition for piano and orchestra by French composer Claude Debussy. It was composed between October 1889 and April 1890, but only received its first public performance in 1919, a year after Debussy's death. The work is dedicated to the pianist René Chansarel, who had been scheduled to play the solo part for the cancelled premiere in 1890.
Michel Glotz was a French classical music record producer and impresario.
Michael Spyres is an American operatic baritenor. He is particularly associated with the bel canto repertoire, especially the works of Rossini, and heroic roles in French grand opera.
Russian-Austrian soprano Anna Netrebko has released several solo recital albums and was featured in opera recordings, both on audio and on film. She recorded primarily with Deutsche Grammophon, to which she signed exclusively in 2003. Some of her filmed Metropolitan Opera performances are available on Met Opera on Demand.