A seduction operation in London, Cannes gives Rendez-Vous to the British
20/03/2024
Crush -
Music
Benjamin Levy
A very active artist on the European symphonic and operatic stages.
Music Director of the Cannes National Orchestra national since 2016, Benjamin Levy has been extended until 2025.
He is very active on the European symphonic and operatic stages, and has been a guest of the Rotterdams Philharmonisch, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi, the Nederlandse, the Stansilavsky Theatre – Moscow, Moscow Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Gelders Orkest, Residentie Orkest – The Hague, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Icelandic Opera, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Krakow Philharmonic Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bogota Philharmonic, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia and the Filharmonia Balticka Gdansk.
In France, he has conducted a number of orchestras including the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Aquitaine, the Orchestre Lamoureux, the Opéra National du Rhin, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy…
Recent projects and recordings include the album Saint-Saëns with violinist Geneviève Laurenceau and the Orchestre de Picardie for Naïve, the CD Dvořák with cellist Nadège Rochat and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Ars Produktion, Beethoven with pianist Nino Gvetadze with PHION, Orchestra of Gelderland & Overijsel on Challenge Records, Dominique Probst’s ‘Une journée à Versailles’ in the album Nuées with the Orchestre national de Cannes on Continuo Classics, Waves with Peter Von Poehl and the Norrlands Operan Symphony Orchestra Umeå, and a recording with the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. Two albums recorded with the Orchestre national de Cannes are forthcoming: Croisette années folles with Warner Classics and Mission Mandoline with mandolinist Vincent Beer-Demander, as well as a video series La Fabrique de l’Orchestre with Christian Merlin.
Benjamin was named “musical revelation” of the year in 2005 by the syndicat de la critique dramatique et musicale.
In 2008, he received the “Young Talent – Conductor” award from ADAMI and was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in May 2022.
Benjamin Levy trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon (First Prize in percussion) and Paris (Prize in analysis and conducting class). He studied at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen (USA) with David Zinman and at the Academia Chigiana in Siena. Benjamin then worked regularly as Marc Minkowski’s assistant (Opéra de Paris, Oper Leipzig, Salzburg Festival) and spent two seasons as Assistant Conductor of the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Radio Kamer Filharmonie.
Having made a name for himself with the Compagnie “Les Brigands”, he has performed rare works from the light opera repertoire with this ensemble, including Offenbach’s Le Docteur OX and Yvain’s Ta Bouche, for which he received a Diapason d’Or. Founder of the Orchestre de Chambre Pelléas, he has given numerous concerts with this collegiate ensemble in France and Europe (Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2011 and 2014, Pelléas et Mélisande at the TCE in 2018, Enescu Festival in Bucharest in 2019, Les 7 péchés capitaux by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, directed by Jacques Osinski, at the Théâtre Athénée Louis-Jouvet in 2021). The Beethoven CD recorded with violinist Lorenzo Gatto and the Orchestre Pelléas for Zig-Zag Territoires was unanimously acclaimed by the press and critics alike.
The album Paris est une Fête with violinist Alexandra Soumm, a long-standing partner of the Orchestre de Chambre Pelléas, will be released in 2022 by Fuga Libera.
