Orchestre de Paris
Encyclopedia
The Orchestre de Paris is a French
orchestra
based in Paris
. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel
.
, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture, André Malraux
, and his music director, Marcel Landowski
to create a new orchestra in Paris. Soon after its creation, Munch died in 1968, and Herbert von Karajan
was hired as an interim music advisor from 1969 to 1971. Successive music directors include Sir Georg Solti
, Daniel Barenboim
, and Semyon Bychkov. Christoph von Dohnányi
served as artistic advisor from 1998-2000.
During his tenure, Barenboim saw a need for a permanent chorus for the orchestra, and engaged the English chorus master Arthur Oldham
to create the Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris (Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris) in 1976. Oldham remained with the Chorus till his retirement in 2002. Since 2002, Didier Bouture and Geoffroy Jourdain share direction of the Chorus.
Christoph Eschenbach
was music director from 2000 to 2010. He conducted recordings of music of Luciano Berio
, Marc-André Dalbavie
, and Albert Roussel
with the orchestra. In May 2007, Paavo Järvi
was named the orchestra's sixth music director, effective with the 2010-2011 season.
In 1998, Crédit Lyonnais
, which had control of the Salle Pleyel
, sold the hall to the French businessman Hubert Martigny. The Salle Pleyel was closed in 2002, which left the orchestra without a resident hall. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
and Théâtre du Châtelet
both presented the orchestra during the 2001-2002 season. By the fall of 2002, the orchestra had secured the Théâtre Mogador
, where it played its next four seasons. In 2003, the French government secured a new arrangement whereby Martigny would pay for renovations to the Salle Pleyel, and rent the hall to the Cité de la Musique
, which would then be scheduled to purchase the hall in the year 2056. After renovations, the Salle Pleyel reopened in September 2006 and became once more the Orchestre de Paris's home base. The orchestra will change residence to the new Philharmonie de Paris
, near the Cité de la Musique in the Parc de la Villette
, in 2014 when the hall construction completes.
's Boléro
became a hit on the Dutch pop chart. The recording, made in 1982 under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, was released as a CD-single to coincide with the success of the song "No more boleros" by the Dutch pop singer Gerard Joling
, which included parts of the Ravel work. With its playing time of 17 minutes, the Orchestre de Paris single remains the longest recording ever in the Dutch Top 40.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
based in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel is a concert hall in Paris, France. The resident ensembles are the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.-History and Design:...
.
History
In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ConservatoireOrchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini....
, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture, André Malraux
André Malraux
André Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
, and his music director, Marcel Landowski
Marcel Landowski
Marcel François Paul Landowski was a French composer, biographer and arts administrator.Born at Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère, Brittany, he was the son of French sculptor Paul Landowski and great-grandson of the composer Henri Vieuxtemps.As an infant he showed early musical promise, and studied piano...
to create a new orchestra in Paris. Soon after its creation, Munch died in 1968, and Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
was hired as an interim music advisor from 1969 to 1971. Successive music directors include Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
, and Semyon Bychkov. Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
served as artistic advisor from 1998-2000.
During his tenure, Barenboim saw a need for a permanent chorus for the orchestra, and engaged the English chorus master Arthur Oldham
Arthur Oldham
Arthur William Oldham was an English composer and choirmaster. He founded the Edinburgh Festival Chorus in 1965, the Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris in 1975, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus in Amsterdam in 1979. He also worked with the Scottish Opera Chorus 1966-74 and directed the...
to create the Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris (Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris) in 1976. Oldham remained with the Chorus till his retirement in 2002. Since 2002, Didier Bouture and Geoffroy Jourdain share direction of the Chorus.
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
was music director from 2000 to 2010. He conducted recordings of music of Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, Marc-André Dalbavie
Marc-André Dalbavie
Marc-André Dalbavie is a French composer. He had his first music lessons at age 6 and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1985 he joined the research department of IRCAM where he studied digital synthesis, computer assisted composition and spectral analysis. In the early 1990s he...
, and Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
with the orchestra. In May 2007, Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi
Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians...
was named the orchestra's sixth music director, effective with the 2010-2011 season.
In 1998, Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993...
, which had control of the Salle Pleyel
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel is a concert hall in Paris, France. The resident ensembles are the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.-History and Design:...
, sold the hall to the French businessman Hubert Martigny. The Salle Pleyel was closed in 2002, which left the orchestra without a resident hall. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
and Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
both presented the orchestra during the 2001-2002 season. By the fall of 2002, the orchestra had secured the Théâtre Mogador
Théâtre Mogador
Théâtre Mogador founded in 1913 and designed by Bertie Crewe, is a Parisian music hall theatre located at 25, rue de Mogador in the 9th district. It seats 1,800 people on three tiers.In 1913 financier Sir Alfred Butt rented an area in Paris...
, where it played its next four seasons. In 2003, the French government secured a new arrangement whereby Martigny would pay for renovations to the Salle Pleyel, and rent the hall to the Cité de la Musique
Cité de la Musique
The Cité de la Musique is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter, 19th arrondissement, Paris, France. It was designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995...
, which would then be scheduled to purchase the hall in the year 2056. After renovations, the Salle Pleyel reopened in September 2006 and became once more the Orchestre de Paris's home base. The orchestra will change residence to the new Philharmonie de Paris
Philharmonie de Paris
The Philharmonie de Paris, a great symphonic concert hall of 2,400 seats and whose construction had been postponed for about twenty years, should complete the Cité de la musique in early 2014 in the Parc de la Villette in Paris....
, near the Cité de la Musique in the Parc de la Villette
Parc de la Villette
The Parc de la Villette is a park in Paris at the outer edge of the 19th arrondissement, bordering the Boulevard Périphérique, which is a ring road around Paris, and the suburban department of Seine-Saint-Denis.-History:...
, in 2014 when the hall construction completes.
Music directors
- Charles Munch (1967–1968)
- Herbert von KarajanHerbert von KarajanHerbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
(musical advisor, 1969–1971) - Sir Georg SoltiGeorg SoltiSir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
(1972–1975) - Daniel BarenboimDaniel BarenboimDaniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
(1975–1989) - Semyon Bychkov (1989–1998)
- Christoph von DohnányiChristoph von DohnányiChristoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
(artistic advisor, 1998–2000) - Christoph EschenbachChristoph EschenbachChristoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
(2000–2010) - Paavo JärviPaavo JärviPaavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians...
(2010–present)
Pop charts
The Orchestre de Paris found itself in an unusual situation in 1989, when its performance of RavelMaurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's Boléro
Boléro
Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel . Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian ballerina Ida Rubinstein, the piece, which premiered in 1928, is Ravel's most famous musical composition....
became a hit on the Dutch pop chart. The recording, made in 1982 under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, was released as a CD-single to coincide with the success of the song "No more boleros" by the Dutch pop singer Gerard Joling
Gerard Joling
Gerard Jan Joling is a Dutch singer and television presenter. Known for his high tenor voice, he rose to fame in the late 80's and released a string of singles including "Ticket to the Tropics", "Love is in your Eyes", and his biggest hit, "No more boleros", a song that reached the top 10 in...
, which included parts of the Ravel work. With its playing time of 17 minutes, the Orchestre de Paris single remains the longest recording ever in the Dutch Top 40.