Louis Langrée
About Louis
French conductor Louis Langrée became Director of the Théâtre national de l’Opéra Comique in November 2021, named by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. Following a successful ten years as Music Director at Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Langrée has been appointed Music Director Laureate through to the 2027-28 season.
In the 2024-25 season, Langrée brings l’Opera Comique to Lille in a production of Gounod’s Faust. On the symphonic stage, he conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, Orchestre Metropolitain, and NDR Elbphilharmonie Symphonieorchester in concerts in Bremen, Lubeck, and Hamburg. He will also conduct the Juilliard Orchestra in a programme of works by Ravel and will return to Interlochen and Ravinia Festival.
Recent highlights include performances of Thomas’ Hamlet, as well as new works by Holland, Dressner (U.S. premiere) and Davis (world premiere) with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and production of Carmen at the Edinburgh International Festival with Opera Comique.
A regular presence in New York since his 1998 debut, Langrée has conducted around 250 performances and concerts at Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, Metropolitan Opera, and New York Philharmonic. Guest conductor appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, and Leipzig Gewandhaus, as well as Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Freiburg Baroque and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In addition to the Met, he frequently conducts at the leading opera houses including Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and at festivals including Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg Mozartwoche and Whitsun.
An advocate for the music of our time, Langrée has conducted world premieres by Daníel Bjarnason, Julia Adolphe, Guillaume Connesson, Anna Clyne, Jonathan Bailey Holland, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nico Muhly, André Previn, Caroline Shaw, and Christopher Rouse.
Among his recent recordings, the DVD of Thomas’ Hamlet, filmed at the Opéra Comique in Paris with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, won the “Best Recording of the Year” Award at the International Opera Awards, “Best Video Performance” at the International Classical Music Awards, the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, Caecilia Prize, and Diapason d’Or of the Year. His two last CDs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra were both nominated for "Best Orchestral Performance" at the Grammy Awards.
Previous music director roles include Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (2003 – 2023), Orchestre de Picardie, Opéra National de Lyon, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and chief conductor of the Camerata Salzburg. A native of Alsace, France, Langrée is an Honorary Member of the Confrérie Saint-Étienne d’Alsace, an Alsatian wine-makers’ brotherhood dating back to the 14th century. Langrée is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and an Officier des Arts et des Lettres.