Emmanuel Villaume

Emmanuel Villaume (born 1964, Strasbourg, France) is an internationally recognized orchestra conductor. He is also Music Director of the Spoleto Festival USA.

Biography

Emmanuel Villaume began his musical education at the Strasbourg Conservatory and continued his studies in Paris (Khâgne and the Sorbonne where he studied literature, philosophy and musicology). At the age of 21, he was named dramaturge at the Opéra National du Rhin, where he met Spiros Argiris (then music director of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto) with whom he subsequently studied conducting. Early in his career, he was also a regular assistant to Seiji Ozawa. His American debut came in 1990 with "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Spoleto Festival USA with Renée Fleming as the Countess.

He has been the Spoleto Festival USA's Music Director for Opera & Orchestra since 2000. He has led numerous symphonic concerts and opera performances for the Festival, including a noted Mahler symphonies cycle, the American première of Henze's "Der Prinz von Homburg", and well-received productions of "Manon Lescaut", "Der Fliegende Holländer", "Lakme", "Ariadne auf Naxos" and "Don Giovanni".

Villaume made his conducting debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in September 2004 in "Madama Butterfly" and returned there in 2006 for "Samson et Dalila", and in February 2008 for "Carmen". A frequent conductor at the Washington National Opera, he has led "La rondine", "Norma", "Le Cid", "Les Contes d'Hoffmann", "Lucia di Lammermoor, "L'elisir d'amore and "La bohème". He made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in December 2003 in "Samson et Dalila" and will return there in future seasons to conduct "The Merry Widow", "Manon" and "Les Contes d'Hoffmann".

He has conducted for many other North American opera companies including San Francisco Opera ("Madama Butterfly"); Los Angeles Opera ("Les Contes d'Hoffmann", "La rondine" and "La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein"); Santa Fe Opera ("Carmen"); Dallas Opera ("Faust" and "Le nozze di Figaro"); Sarasota Opera ("Les Contes d'Hoffmann", "Die Zauberflöte" and "Manon"); the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis ("La rondine" and "Faust") and Opéra de Montréal ("La vie parisienne").

Villaume debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducting "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" in October 2000 and returned there in 2004 for "La rondine" starring Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann. In January 2007 he made his conducting debut at La Fenice in Venice with Meyerbeer's "Il crociato in Egitto" which opened the 2007 season and returned there for "Thais" in October of that year. He has appeared twice at the Klangbogen Festival in Vienna, with "Don Quichotte" in 2002 and "Goya" starring Plácido Domingo in 2004.

Other European opera appearances include Cologne Opera ("La bohème" and "Werther"); Teatro Real, Madrid ("Les Contes d'Hoffmann"); Opéra Bastille ("Rigoletto"); Hamburg Staatsoper ("Der Fliegende Holländer"); Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, ("Mignon"); Bonn Opera ("La fanciulla del West"); the Martina Franca Festival ("La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein"); Cagliari ("Cherubin"); Opéra de Marseille ("Pelléas et Mélisande", "Carmen" and "Norma"); Opéra de Nice ("Faust"); Monte Carlo Opera ("La Périchole" and "Werther"); the Teatro Regio in Turin ("Ariane et Barbe-Bleue"); and Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto ("Padmavati").

In North America, Villaume has led the Montreal Symphony, Chicago Symphony and the Boston Symphony as well as the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Detroit and Minnesota symphony orchestras. He has also appeared at the Grant Park, Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals. European orchestras he has conducted include the Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Bonn's Beethovenhalle Orchestra, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. In Australia, he has led the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane symphony orchestras, and in China he has conducted the China National Opera Orchestra in conjunction with the 2008 Olympic Games.

Emmanuel Villaume holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis.

elected recordings

*Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón - "Duets" (Orchestras: Staatskapelle Dresden and Orchestre National de Belgique; Conductors: Nicola Luisotti and Emmanuel Villaume). Deutsche Grammophon 4776635 CD
*Massenet: "Chérubin" (Michelle Breedt, Patrizia Ciofi, Carmela Remigio,Giorgio Surjan,, Teresa di Bari, Alessandra Palomba, Nicola Ebau, "et al."; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume) Dynamic CDS 508/1-2 CD and DV 33508 DVD
*Offenbach: "La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein" (Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Carlo Allemano, Thomas Morris, Richard Plaza; Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia; Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume) Dynamic CDS173 CD
*Meyerbeer: "Il crociato in Egitto" (Michael Maniaci, Patrizia Ciofi, Marco Vinco, Laura Polverelli, Fernando Portari, Iorio Zennaro, Silvia Pasini, Luca Favaron, Emanuele Pedrini; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice; Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume) Dynamic DV 33549 DVD

References

*Page, Tim, [http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/07/days_left_experience_great_music43811 '2 Days Left to Experience Great Music'] ," Charleston Post and Courier", June 7, 2008. Accessed 30 June 2008.
*Smith, Steve, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/arts/music/20fish.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Juilliard+Steve+Smith&st=nyt&oref=slogin 'Birds Sing, Glasses Wail, Storms Rage, Seas Toss"'] New York Times", 20 February 2008. Accessed 30 June 2008.
* [http://www.spoletousa.org/about/leadership_villaume.php Biography] Spoleto Festival USA. Accessed 19 December 2007.
* [http://66.187.153.86/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/gisrch2k.r?Term=Villaume,%20Emmanuel%20%5BConductor%5D&limit=5000&vsrchtype=no&xBranch=ALL&xmtype=&Start=&End=&theterm=Villa%75m%65,%20%45mman%75%65l%20%5BCond%75c%74o%72%5D&srt=&x=0&xHome=http://66.187.153.86/archives/bibpro.htm&xHomePath=http://66.187.153.86/archives/ Emmanuel Villaume performance record] , New York Metropolitan Opera (MetDatabase). Accessed 19 December 2007.
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4DB1731F937A15753C1A9669C8B63 'French Conductor Named Music Director for Spoleto Festival U.S.A.'] "New York Times", October 24, 2000. Accessed 19 December 2007.
*Delacoma, Wynne, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050711/ai_n14852541 'Villaume conducts memorable Grant Park debut'] , "Chicago Sun-Times", July 11, 2005. Accessed 19 December 2007.
*Kimberly, Nick, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001004/ai_n14349322 Review: "The Tales Of Hoffman", Royal Opera House, London] , "The Independent", October 4, 2000. Accessed 19 December 2007.
*Loomis, George, [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/18/features/meyer.php 'Il Crociato in Egitto: Teatro La Fenice opens with a daring look back'] . "International Herald Tribune", January 18, 2007. Accessed 19 December 2007.
*Oestreich, James R., [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D71530F931A35755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print 'Critic's Notebook'] (reviews of "Tamerlano", "Lakme", and Mahler's 6th Symphony at the Spoleto Festival USA), "New York Times", June 2, 2003. Accessed 20 December 2007.
*Seckerson, Edward, [http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article20568.ece Review: "La Rondine", Royal Opera House, London] , "The Independent", November 17, 2004. Accessed 19 December 2007.
*Univerity of Indianapolis, [http://www.uindy.edu/news/?p=264 'Spoleto Festival USA music director to be UIndy commencement speaker'] , May 1, 2003. Accessed 19 December 2007.

External links

* [http://www.emmanuelvillaume.com Emmanuel Villaume official web site]
* [http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=644 Biography on IMG Artists]
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/villaume.html Emmanuel Villaume interview] by Bruce Duffie