Marc Minkowski

Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. Minkowski was musical director of Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Austria, from 2013 to 2017 and was general director of the Opéra national de Bordeaux from 2016 to 2021. Minkowski is a Chevalier du Mérite.

Life and career

Marc Minkowski was born in Paris. His maternal grandmother, Edith Wade, was a violinist. His mother, Mary Anne Minkowski ''née'' Wade, is American, and his father was Alexandre Minkowski, a Polish-French professor of pediatrics and one of the founders of neonatology. He began his musical career as a bassoonist for René Clemencic's Clemencic Consort and Philippe Pierlot's Ricercar Consort.

In 1982, Minkowski formed "Les Musiciens du Louvre", an orchestra dedicated to showcasing French Baroque music which has championed works by Marin Marais (opera ''Alcyone''), Jean-Joseph Mouret (opera ''Les amours de Ragonde''), Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jean-Baptiste Lully (opera '' Phaëton'' at Opéra National de Lyon) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (opera '' Hippolyte et Aricie''). The ensemble has also revived lesser-known Handel operas, such as '' Teseo'', '' Amadigi'', '' Riccardo Primo'' and ''Ariodante'', as well as several operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck including '' Armide'' (at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles), '' Alceste'' and '' Iphigénie en Tauride'' (at the English Bach Festival at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).

Les Musiciens du Louvre relocated to Grenoble after 1996, where they are associates at the Maison de la Culture de Grenoble.

Minkowski's career focus has shifted from an initial specialized interest in the Baroque to a wider interest in opera. He conducted Mozart's ''Idomeneo'' in 1996 at the Opéra National de Paris and debuted his ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' at the Salzburg Festival. He has since conducted Mozart's ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and ''Mitridate, re di Ponto'' at the Salzburg Festival, Handel's ''Giulio Cesare'' in Amsterdam, Paris and Zürich (with Cecilia Bartoli) and his '' Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno'' in Zürich, Donizetti's ''La Favorite'' in Zürich, and Gluck's '' Iphigénie en Tauride'', among others.

He has also performed and recorded critically acclaimed works by Jacques Offenbach: ''Orphée aux Enfers'', ''La belle Hélène'' and '' La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'', along with the Concerto militaire for cello and orchestra in G, with Jérôme Pernoo (cello).

As well as Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski is active in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Staatskapelle Dresden. In 2008 Minkowski became music director of Sinfonia Varsovia.

His recordings can be found on Erato, EMI's Virgin Classics and Naïve Records. In 2014 Naïve released a recording of the original version of '' Der fliegende Holländer'' and the first recording of '' Le Vaisseau fantôme'' by Dietsch, conducted by Minkowski.Rohan, Michael Scott. Reviews of recording of ''Le Vaisseau fantôme''. ''Opera'', February 2014, Vol 65 No 2, p223-225.

Minkowski was awarded the Prize XVIIe in 1988 for his recordings of ''Lully-Molière : Les Comédies ballets par les Musiciens du Louvre'', (Erato Records).

References

External links

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Minkowski at Deutsche Grammophon


Les Musiciens du Louvre
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minkowski, Marc
French male conductors (music)
French performers of early music
1962 births
Living people
Musicians from Paris
French classical bassoonists
French people of Polish-Jewish descent
French people of American descent
Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
Handel Prize winners
21st-century French conductors (music)
21st-century French male musicians
Erato Records artists
Recipients of the Golden Mask