Emmanuel Villaume
Conductor Emmanuel Villaume has been highly visible in the U.S. as well as in Europe, conducting both opera and orchestral music. He is the music director of the Dallas Opera and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia. Villaume has a large repertory of not only French opera but also rarely heard works from elsewhere, such as Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. He has recorded for major labels, including Deutsche Grammophon and Warner Classics, accompanying tenor Pene Pati on his 2024 release Nessun Dorma.
Villaume was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1964. He attended the Strasbourg Conservatoire and then moved to Paris, where he attended a khânge humanities training program, and then the Sorbonne University, where he studied musicology, literature, and philosophy. Joining the Opéra National du Rhin as a dramaturge (a literary advisor and editor) and stage manager, he studied conducting with Spiros Argiris. Villaume gained experience as an assistant conductor under Seiji Ozawa. His U.S. operatic debut came in 1990 when he conducted Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina. In 2000, he became the music director of that festival, remaining in that position until 2010. Villaume's recording debut came in 2006 on the Dynamic label with a recording of Massenet's rarely heard opera Chérubin, featuring the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.
Villaume has been equally active in opera and orchestral music. He has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden in London, and La Fenice in Venice. Villaume has made guest conducting appearances with the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, among other top groups. In 2015, Villaume became the music director of the Dallas Opera and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia. As of the mid-2020s, after several contract extensions, he continued to hold both positions. Villaume's recorded output has been mostly dedicated to opera, and he has often backed singers on aria recitals. In that capacity, he led the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra in support of tenor Pene Pati's 2024 release Nessun Dorma. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
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