Pascal Verrot

Pascal Verrot is a French-born orchestra conductor who holds the post of principal conductor of the Sendai Philharmonic (Japan) and musical director of Picardie Orchestra (France). Prior to that, he was music director of the Québec Symphony Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in Canada, from 1991 to 1997.

Born in Lyon, France, in 1959, Mr. Verrot holds degrees both from the Sorbonne University in Paris and the Paris Conservatory where he studied for four years with Jean-Sébastien Béreau, winning first prize in the conducting competition. During that time, he made his debut as oboist and conductor (1977 - 1982) of the wind ensemble Union Musicale of Villefranche sur Saone (North of Lyon). He also studied for three years with the late Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy.

Pascal Verrot made his international debuts in 1985, when he was prize winner at the Tokyo International Conducting Competition. Since then, his guest conducting appearances have included many performances in Japan, in France and in North-America. Mr. Verrot has conducted several North-American renowned ensembles that include the Boston Symphony (where he served as assistant conductor from 1986 to 1990), the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Utah Symphony and most recently the Pacific Symphony. His native country of France has offered him numerous occasions to lead major orchestras.

He made his operatic debut conducting Die Fledermaus (1989) at the Lyon Opera House, also lead the Marriage of Figaro (1991) in Paris. His recent conducting include the three Mozart-Da Ponte operas, the Gounod's Faust at the inauguration of the new Shanghai Grand Theatre, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He made his debut in the Tokyo City Opera House conducting Le Nozze Di Figaro, Mozart, in February 2002.

[http://verrot.free.fr Pascal Verrot - Official website]

[http://verrot.free.fr/biographie-eng.htm Pascal Verrot - Biography]