Conductor Philippe Jordan moves to the Orchestre National de France
Published: Thursday, Nov 21st 2024, 18:00
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Zurich-born Philippe Jordan will take over from Romanian Cristian Macelaru as conductor of the Orchestre National de France on September 1, 2027. This was announced by Radio France on Thursday.
The 50-year-old conductor is currently Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, having led the Opéra National de Paris between 2009 and 2021. "For me, this new connection feels like a homecoming. The twelve years at the Paris Opera were a joyful time, and after my years at the Vienna State Opera and before that as head of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, I am now returning to France," said Jordan in a statement, expressing his delight at returning to his roots.
Jordan has been appointed to the renowned Orchestre National de France (ONF) for five seasons. He succeeds 44-year-old Macelaru, who will retire in the summer of 2027 after seven years in the post. Previously, greats such as Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur and Daniele Gatti have conducted the ONC.
Philippe Jordan is the son of Armin Jordan, who died in 2006 and had previously been General Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for many years. Jordan Junior began his musical training on the piano at the age of six, became a Zurich choirboy two years later and also took up the violin at the same time. At the age of 16, from 1990, he studied at the Zurich Conservatory and completed his piano exam with distinction.
In 1994, he was engaged as a conductor at the Stadttheater Ulm, where he became Germany's youngest conductor in 1996. Jordan came onto the radar screen of international critics at the latest with his subsequent engagement in Berlin, where he was assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from 1998 to 2001.
The ONF was founded in 1934 as one of the two orchestras of Radio France (alongside the Orchestre Philharmonique). It is one of the major orchestras in France, alongside the Orchestre de Paris, which is affiliated to the Philharmonie, and the Paris Opera Orchestra.
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