Emmanuel Krivine

Emmanuel Krivine has conducted the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He has worked with the Sydney, Melbourne and NHK Symphony Orchestras and, in North America, he has conducted the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he debuted in 2016/17, now invited each season. In the coming seasons he will also return to the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Washington's National Symphony and the Danish National Symphony orchestras and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. A passion for working with chamber orchestras has led to tours with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and he took up the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2015.

Krivine and the Orchestre National de France recently marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Claude Debussy with concerts around France and Switzerland including at the Festival de Pâques, Aix-en-Provence, the Settimane Musicali di Ascona, Les Grands Interprètes Toulouse, and performed a seven concert tour of China. In May 2018 their recording of La Mer and Images was released. 

He is a passionate educator, who regularly conducts orchestras of young musicians, and in 2004 he created a period-instrument ensemble, La Chambre Philharmonique, recognised as one of the most important groups of its kind, which has gained recognition with its award-winning recordings on Naïve; these included most recently a complete set of Beethoven symphonies, awarded Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. His discography also includes recordings with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Maria João Pires, London Symphony Orchestra with Vadim Repin, and the Orchestre National de Lyon, released on labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Erato and Naïve.

Emmanuel Krivine was born in Grenoble, from Russian descent through his father and Polish through his mother, and began his career as a violinist. He was awarded the Premier Prix of the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 16 and became a scholar at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium, studying with Henryk Szeryng and Yehudi Menuhin, and winning many prestigious awards. After a decisive meeting with Karl Böhm in 1965, he increasingly devoted himself to conducting. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 1976 until 1983, and then became Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon from 1987 until 2000. He also served as Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes for eleven years between 1984 and 2004, as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg from 2006 to 2014 and more recently as Principal Guest Conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.

2020-21 season / 552 words. Not to be altered without permission.