Emmanuel Villaume

Emmanuel Villaume (born 1964) is a French orchestra conductor. He was born in Strasbourg and made his U.S. conducting debut in 1990 with Le nozze di Figaro at Spoleto Festival USA. He subsequently served as the festival's Director from 2000 to 2010. He is Music Director of the Dallas Opera and the Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2015, Villaume will become Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia.

Life and career

Villaume was born in Strasbourg and 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 U.S. conducting debut in 1990 with Le nozze di Figaro at Spoleto Festival USA. In 2000, he was appointed the festival's Director, a post he held until 2010.[1][2] He became Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 and held the post through 2013.[3] In 2009, he became Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic.[4]

In April 2013, Villaume was named Music Director of the The Dallas Opera.[5]

Villaume holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis.[6]

Guest appearances

He regularly appears with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, [7][8] San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera,[5] the Paris Opera, La Fenice, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Colón, and KlangBogen Wien.

In North America, Villaume has led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra. In Europe, he has appeared with the Orchestre de Paris, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. In Asia, Villaume has appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

In 2008, Villaume led the China National Opera Orchestra as part of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[9]

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "French Conductor Named Music Director for Spoleto Festival U.S.A.". New York Times. 2000-10-24. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  2. ↑ "At Spoleto, a Departing Director and a Premiere". New York Times. 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  3. ↑ "The Slovenian Philharmonic". Slovenian Philharmonic Website. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  4. ↑ "Slovak Philharmonic names new chief conductor". Gramophone. 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Dallas Opera names Emmanuel Villaume music director". The Dallas Morning News. 2013-04-30. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  6. ↑ "University growth splits commencement ceremonies in two" (PDF). Portico. Summer: 17. 2003. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
  7. ↑ "Superb cast, music make 'Samson' hard to resist". Chicago Sun-Times. 2003-12-15. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  8. ↑ "Madama Butterfly". Metropolitan Opera Archives. 2004-09-22. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  9. ↑ "Olympic Voices". 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2014-01-08.

External links

Cultural offices
Preceded by
Steven Sloane		 Music Director, Spoleto Festival USA
2001-2010 		Succeeded by
(post vacant)
Preceded by
George Pehlivanian		 Chief Conductor, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
2008-2013 		Succeeded by
Keri-Lynn Wilson
Preceded by
Peter Feranec		 Chief Conductor, Slovak Philharmonic
2009-present 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
Graeme Jenkins		 Music Director, Dallas Opera
2013-present 		Succeeded by
incumbent