French-born Alexandre Bloch has been Music Director of Orchestre National de Lille since September 2016.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include a debut to Bayerische Staatsoper, a return to the USA and his debut with Utah Symphony, concerts with Orchestre National de France, a residency at the Salzburg Festival with Orchestre National de Lille, and performances alongside internationally acclaimed soloists such as Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Patricia Kopacinskaja, Mischa Maisky, Sharon Kahn, Nemanja Radulovic, Veronika Eberle, Veronique Gens and Victor Julien-Laferrière.

Alexandre stepped down as Principal Guest Conductor of Düsseldorfer Symphoniker having held the position for 6 years.

Past symphonic guest conducting has also included Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Oslo Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestre National de France, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Gurzenich-Orchester Köln, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, NCPA (Beijing) and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Operatic engagements include Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf), Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Lyon where Alexandre conducted the French premiere of George Benjamin’s “Lesson in Love and Violence”.

During his tenure in Lille, Alexandre has been leading a diverse and thrilling range of repertoire. Critics and audience acclaimed a full Mahler symphony cycle (in 2019), most of the Stravinsky ballets, Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Strauss and Brahms masterpieces. He also chose to work with the orchestra in chamber symphony form with Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann, performed and recorded French music such as Chausson, Saint-Saens and Poulenc. Also an advocate of new music, Alexandre invited today’s composer in residency or festival such as Magnus Lindberg, George Benjamin, Thierry Escaich among others. Finally, he has been building a full range of special projects in order to bring new audiences to the concert hall, such as lyrical repertoire (Bernstein’s Mass, Carmen, Tosca, les Pêcheurs de Perles, la Belle Hélène), young audience concerts and 2.0 concert formats.

Under Alexandre’s direction, the Orchestre National de Lille was nominated a finalist for the Gramophone Orchestra of the Year Award 2020.

Admired for his musicality, enthusiasm and energy, his First Prize at the 2012 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition attracted international attention and brought him the opportunity to serve as Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Shortly after, he made his debut (2012) with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, replacing Mariss Jansons at short notice to conduct three performances of a challenging programme including Richard Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung and a Jörg Widmann commission for large orchestra.

He was named “2012’s Talents” by the ADAMI and was a conducting fellow at the 2012 and 2013 Tanglewood Music Center Festival. He also drew the attention of conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Sir Mark Elder and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Born in 1985, Alexandre studied cello, harmony and conducting at the Tours, Orléans and Lille’s conservatoires. In 2012, he completed his Master’s Degrees at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the conducting studio of Zsolt Nagy, followed by a Junior Fellowship year at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester).

Recording releases (Alpha Classics/Outhere) with Orchestre National de Lille include a new recording of Mahler Symphony No. 7, 2 recordings with Véronique Gens shining light on the work of Ernest Chausson and Francis Poulenc, and a recording of Ravel’s “La Valse” and “Rhapsodie Espagnole”. Many of the orchestra’s concerts have been broadcast in its’ virtual concert hall “Audito 2.0”, or on TV/radio, including on France Musique and Mezzo.

For the most up-to-date biography, please contact Adam Brady. This biography should not be edited without permission from Askonas Holt.