Austrian succeeds Roth at Liège

Austrian succeeds Roth at Li�ge

11th May 2011

Category: People

The Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (OPRL) has announced that Christian Arming will be its next music director. The Austrian conductor, 40, has signed a four-year contract beginning with the 2011-12 season.

‘I’ve conducted this orchestra three times, in 2006, 2008 and 2010 and I fell in love,’ Arming stated. ‘From the start I instantly felt a special chemistry. In recent years I’ve refused many similar offers, but immediately said yes to Liège. I sense great potential in this orchestra, and even more broadly in the cultural life of Liège.’

For the past eight years, Arming has been music director of the New Japan Philharmonic (NJP) in Tokyo, a position that has recently been extended to 2013. His previous roles include chief conductor and music director of the Lucerne Theatre and Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, Czech Republic – a post he took up in 1996 at the age of 24. Seiji Ozawa has been a mentor and strong supporter of Arming’s career – a connection that brought him to Tanglewood where he conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra and also to Tokyo where he first conducted the NJP.

The post of OPRL music director has been vacant since March 2010, when François-Xavier Roth left unexpectedly after less than a year in post – despite having signed a three-year contract (Gig Vol 6 No 8). Three weeks after the announcement, it was revealed that Roth would be succeeding Sylvain Cambreling at the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg in Germany.

According to OPRL general director Jean-Pierre Rousseau, the selection committee consisted of 15 musicians and staff of the orchestra. Arming was the top choice from ‘five or six’ shortlisted candidates. In the 2011-12 season he will conduct just three full programmes, which will increase to 10 in 2012-13 and each following season.

www.oprl.be
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège