Yan Pascal Tortelier (born 19 April 1947) is a French
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist.
Biography
Born in Paris, Tortelier is the son of the cellist
Paul Tortelier, and the brother of Maria de la Pau. Tortelier began piano and violin studies at age 4. At age 14, he was a first-prize winner for violin at the Paris Conservatoire.
Tortelier has worked and recorded extensively in the United Kingdom. He was principal conductor of the
Ulster Orchestra from 1989 to 1992. He served as Principal Conductor of the
BBC Philharmonic in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
from 1992 to 2003, and now has the title of conductor emeritus with the orchestra. He has also been a Principal Guest Conductor of the
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB).
Tortelier served as Principal Guest Conductor of the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 2005 to 2008. He was principal conductor of the
Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP) from 2009 to 2011, and had the title of honorary guest conductor with the OSESP from 2011 to 2013. Tortelier first guest-conducted the
Iceland Symphony Orchestra (ISO) in 1998. In October 2015, the ISO announced the appointment of Tortelier as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season, with an contract of 3 years. Tortelier stood down as principal conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in June 2019.
Tortelier's recordings include his own orchestration of
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
's
Trio. He is a regular recording artist for Chandos Records, and has conducted commercial recordings for Chandos with the BBC Philharmonic, the
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
, and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.
On Plasson's 1978 recording of ''
Orphée aux enfers'', he plays the violin solos.
References
External links
IMG Artists agency biography of Yan Pascal Tortelierat th
NYOGB website
French male conductors (music)
French expatriates in the United Kingdom
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Musicians from Paris
1947 births
Living people
Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music
21st-century French conductors (music)
21st-century French male musicians
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