Conductor

Jean-Michaël Lavoie


Co-Artistic Director, Ensemble Multilatérale (Paris)


An outstanding conductor and exceptional musician, french-canadian Jean-Michaël Lavoie is building an enviable reputation in Europe as well as in the US and Canada. He excels in contemporary repertoire (Boulez protégé), but is also rapidly establishing himself in mainstream repertoire and in opera. Current highlights include appearances with NAC Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto Symphony orchestras, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as collaborations with Ensemble intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Modern. Opera in 2012/13 sees his debuts with both Opéra National de Lyon and Opéra de Rouen.

Jean-Michaël Lavoie makes his debut with Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto

24 Apr 2013

Jean-Michaël makes his debut next week on May 4th with the renowned Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa da Musica. Lavoie conducts Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring currently in its...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie debut Salzburg and Berlin Philharmonie debut with Ensemble Rensonanz

21 Mar 2013

On March 2nd Jean-Michael Lavoie made his Salzburg debut at the Salzburg Biennale with Hamburg-based Ensemble Resonanz. Recorded by the ORF, the Austrian National Radio, the programme included...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie makes his German debut

10 Mar 2013

On March 9th Jean-Michaël Lavoie made his German debut with the renowned Ensmble Modern in Dessau. As part of the Kurt Weill Festival in Deassau Lavoie and Ensemble Modern perform the 2010...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie conducts Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne

03 Dec 2012

On 7, 8 and 9 December 2012 Jean-Michaël Lavoie conducts the Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne in the world premiere of Olivier Mellano's fascinating work How We Tried a New Combination of… to...

Jean-Michael Lavoie’s Debut with L’Opéra National de Lyon

26 Nov 2012

Jean-Michaël Lavoie makes his debut with Opera National de Lyon this week, conducting Viktor Ullman’s astonishing one-act opera Der...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie debuts with the Klangforum Wien in Austria

14 Sep 2012

Jean-Michaël Lavoie launched his 2012-2013 season debuting with the renown Klangforum Wien in September, at two Austrian...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie returns to Canada to conduct the Quebec Symphony Orchestra

09 Mar 2012

This month Jean-Michael continues his exploration of Canada's major orchestras with a return visit to Quebec Symphony Orchestra, conducting two different programmes. The first, part of the...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie continues series of appearances with major Canadian orchestras

09 Feb 2012

Jean-Michaël Lavoie continues his series of appearances with major Canadian orchestras — on February 7, 2012 he conducts the ...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie Polish debut

15 Dec 2011

Following on from successful concerts with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal last month, Jean-Michaël Lavoie celebrates the end of the year with the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra. This debut...

Jean-Michaël Lavoie conducts Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

17 Nov 2011

Jean-Michaël Lavoie conducts Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in five performances ofThe Little Prince’ based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s...

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“It is clear that this opera- the first ever to be staged at the Comédie de Valence - is a resounding success. The production at the same time preserves a certain soberness, whilst also introducing modern elements, and the orchestra - conducted with the hand of a maestro by Jean-Michaël Lavoie - becomes an integral part of the staging.”

Le Dauphine - Nov 2012

“Jean-Michael Lavoie conducted this work [Klaus Lang’s Der dünne Wal“ für Oboe und Ensemble (2011)] with clear sign-language and communicative gestures (learned from french veteran Boulez), allowing the line and structure of the work to come through.”

Neues Volksbaltt: Klangforum Wien at Brucknerhaus, Linz - Sep 2012

“After the break, we heard Georg Friedrich Haas's acoustic analysis of the Kosovo war for percussion and ensemble "Who, if I cried out, would hear ..." ...Jean-Michaël Lavoie led this great ensemble [Klangforum Wien] to emphatic musical depths.””

Nchrichten.at: Klangforum Wien at Brucknerhaus, Linz - Sep 2012

“French-Canadian conductor Jean-Michaël Lavoie brought luminosity and transparency to this music [Nina Rota Concerto for Strings], full of sublime melodies and with strong emotional resonances.  His interpretation was clear, lucid and light-footed.  He approached Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in the same spirit,  and brought Mozart’s musical language to life with elegance and refinement; it was a wonderfully detailed account that neglected no detail in the score”

Le Populaire du Centre: Orchestre de Limoges et du Limousin at Festival des Francophonies en Limousin 2011 - Sep 2011

“conductor Jean-Michaël Lavoie ensured an attractive balance between soloist and orchestra and some well judged tempi. The rhapsodic second piece was beautifully articulated, just enough acid sharpening its sweetness and the dialogue between saxophone and strings in the brief final piece was wittily handled.”

Seen and Heard International: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Vale of Glamorgan Festival 2011 - Sep 2011

“The National Arts Center Orchestra has quite a presence in Dominion-Chalmers compared to in Southam Hall and their playing really sounded like Mozart; the Posthorn Serenade, played later in instalments, was outstanding. Lavoie and the orchestra concluded the program with the ballet music from Idomeneo, the playing made it entirely lovely and a fine closing for the concert.”

Ottawa Citizen - Jul 2011

“The beginning of the festival was marked by the discovery of a young French-canadian conductor, Jean-Michaël Lavoie. He conducts with great precision and agility and has a natural sense of rhythm; indeed a wonderful sense of rhythmic continuity. His nimble baton technique never interferes with the music, but rather creates a space in which the instruments of the orchestra can flourish and the music can blossom. The music flows naturally and comes alive. This intelligent and musical objectivity will no doubt enable the development of his own musical trademark and style.”

Le Droit - Jul 2011

“I am fascinated by the fluidity, the timbre, colour and clarity of composers of French composers going back to Berlioz.”

MusicalCriticism.com Interview - May 2011

“Jean-Michaël Lavoie, a young French Canadian conductor who is a 2010 Dudamel Conducting Fellow, led the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group with precision, conviction and a tactile electricity.  ”

Los Angeles Times - Nov 2010

“A beautifully intoxicating evening under the baton of super-talented Jean-Michaël Lavoie”

Le Télégramme - Jun 2010

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Jean-Michaël Lavoie is an outstanding young French-Canadian conductor who in recent seasons established an international reputation both in Europe and in North America.  A rigorous musician, he quickly gains the confidence of other musicians with his clear ideas and communicative direction.   Co-Artistic Director of renowned contemporary group Ensemble Multilatérale (Paris), he also enjoys an ongoing relationship with vocal ensemble Accentus.

Recent and future highlights include debuts with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Resonanz,   Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Orchestre National de Lille,  Orchestre d'Auvergne , Israel Contemporary Players, Orchestre Métropolitain, Montréal and National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa. In the 13/14 season Jean-Michael will make his debut with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken-Kaiserslautern and Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg.

Jean-Michaël enjoyed return engagements with Orchestre de Bretagne and Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. In the contemporary field appearances included a return to Ensemble intercontemporain (conducting the French premiere of Matalon’s reworked score to accompany the Fritz Lang movie Metropolis), as well as concerts with the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble and his debut with the Israel Contemporary Players.  Assistant Conductor of Ensemble Intercontemporian from 2008-2010 he worked in association with Pierre Boulez with whom he continues to enjoy a regular association – and who also appointed him First Assistant Conductor at the 2010 Lucerne Festival Academy. Further return invitations include Edmonton Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Ensemble Resonanz.

In 2011 Jean-Michaël Lavoie made his debut with Opéra de Rennes and at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, in a collaboration on the world première of an opera by Luca Francesconi – Quartett, and he also collaborated on a revival of this same work at the Wiener Festwochen in 2011/12. 

This season he made his debut with L’Opéra de Lyon, conducting Der Kaiser von Atlantis in Valence and in Lyon.  Further operatic plans include the world première of a new work by Christian Lauba La Lettre des Sables with Opéra National de Bordeaux.

www.jean-michaellavoie.com

June 2013