Louis Langrée Appointed Cincinnati Symphony Music Director
Langrée, 51, who is in his 10th season as music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City, was introduced at a press conference at Music Hall in Cincinnati April 24. The event was webcast live globally via the CSO’s UStream channel.
Langrée made his CSO debut in March, 2011 at Music Hall, and was immediately invited back to conduct a special concert with the orchestra at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in August. He will conduct two concerts during the 2012-13 CSO season, both in November: an all-French program Nov. 9 and 10 at Music Hall, including “The Forgotten Offerings” by Olivier Messiaen, Franck’s Symphony in D Minor and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Saint-Saëns with pianist Cedric Tiberghien, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Nov. 15, 17 and 18, also at Music Hall.
A native of Mulhouse, France, Langrée studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory and began his career at the Opéra National de Lyon. He was assistant conductor of the Orchestra de Paris from 1989-92, and has been music director of the Orchestre de Picardie, Opéra National de Lyon, Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège. He made his U.S. debut at Spoleto Festival USA in 1991.
Langrée works regularly with the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England. He has also conducted at the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Opera Bastille and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. He has conducted many orchestras around the world, including period instrument orchestras, and in June, 2011 was named principal conductor of the Camerata Salzburg. He has recorded for Virgin Classics and the Universal/Accord and Cypress labels.
Langrée lives in Paris with his wife, Aimée Frank Langrée, a writer for French television, and their two children.