Conductor, soloist, composer, teacher, Jean-François Verdier is presented as one of the most interesting personalities in the musical world.
Super-soloist of the Paris Opera, considered as one of the best European clarinettists, he is a laureate of international competitions in several disciplines in Tokyo, Vienna, Antwerp, Colmar, and Lugano. He has played under the direction of Bernstein, Ozawa, Muti, Gergiev, Salonen, Boulez, Jordan, Dohnanyi, Barenboim, Dudamel, Nelsons... He has been invited by the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He won the Bruno Walter Prize at the Lugano International Conducting Competition in 2001, and it was with the advice of Armin Jordan and Kent Nagano that he began his career as a conductor, which was quickly acclaimed by the critics.
Resident conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon (2008-10), he has been artistic director of the Orchestre Victor Hugo since 2010, an orchestra with which he has recorded several critically acclaimed CDs (two Chocs Classica, Choc Jazz, Diamant d'Opéra Magazine...) with Karine Deshayes, Sandrine Piau, Isabelle Druet, Paul Meyer, François Leleux, Baptiste Trotignon, David Guerrier...
He is in demand by the great international stages: Opéra national de Paris (for which he has conducted more than 70 performances), Munich BR, Vienna, Madrid, Montreal, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Bern, Biel, Brussels, Mexico City, Salerno, Tokyo, Nagoya, Bolshoi of Moscow...
He is also a guest of the main French national orchestras and operas: Capitole de Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier, Metz, Bordeaux, Ile-de-France, Nantes, Ensemble orchestral de Paris... He collaborates with Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ludovic Tézier, Sandrine Piau, Piotr Beczala, Isabelle Faust, Sergei Nakariakov, François Leleux... and is a member of the jury of international competitions alongside Leonard Slatkin, Jorma Panula, Marin Alsop, or Dennis Russel-Davies. He has been teaching conducting at the ESM de Bourgogne Franche-Comté since 2019.
He composes musical tales for children: a sequel to Peter and the Wolf: The Duck is still alive! (Bernard Friot, Milan), Anna, Léo et le gros ours de l'armoire (Bernard Friot, Actes sud) both performed at the Philharmonie de Paris and Coups de Cœur de l'Académie Charles Cros ; Nuage Rouge (Vincent Cuvellier) performed at the Folle Journée de Nantes, Le Carnaval (gastronomique) des animaux (Bernard Friot, Milan), the children's opera Orphée (Dorian Astor) created by the Capitole de Toulouse in 2019, Svalbard en 2021 (Isabelle Gély). His works have been performed by the Bavarian Radio in Munich, the Dessau Opera, the Capitole de Toulouse, the Rouen Opera, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metz National Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie de Paris...
Jean-François Verdier is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
© Yves Petit