Biography
Emmanuel Villaume is Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. He served as the Spoleto Festival USA's Music Director for Opera & Orchestra from 2001 to 2010. During that time he led numerous symphonic concerts and opera performances for the Festival, including a noted Mahler symphonies cycle, the American première of Henze's Der Prinz von Homburg, and acclaimed productions of Manon Lescaut, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lakme, Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Giovanni and Louise.
Maestro Villaume opened the 2009-2010 season conducting concerts (with Anna Netrebko) in Duisburg, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, followed by performances with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana. He appeared with the Utah Symphony, and returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago for The Merry Widow in December. In early 2010 he conducted both the Slovak Philharmonic and Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestras in a series of performances, returned to Charleston, SC for the Spoleto Festival USA, and conducted the Quebec Symphony. Later in the year, he conducts Werther with San Francisco Opera, Samson et Dalila with Opera Marseille, and a concert in Bucharest with Sarah Chang, violin.
In 2008-2009, Maestro Villaume conducted Manon (with Natalie Dessay) to open the Lyric Opera of Chicago season, Carmen at Los Angeles Opera, Tosca in Berlin and Les Contes d'Hoffmann in Turin. Orchestra performances included the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, and a return to the Juilliard Orchestra.
In 2007-2008, Maestro Villaume's performances included Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, Ariane et Barbe Bleue at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Meyerbeer's Il Crociato in Egitto for the opening of the 2007 season at La Fenice in Venice, La Bohéme for Washington National Opera's 2007-08 season opening, Thaïs at La Fenice, and Padmâvatî at Festival dei Due Mondi. He conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and Vienna in concert performances with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon, the Orchestre National de Belgique with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon at the Festival de Saint-Denis, the Slovak Philharmonic at the Bratislava Festival, a special concert in Oberammergau, Germany with Renee Fleming, Rolando Villazon and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo, and the China National Opera Orchestra for three concerts during the Olympic Games of 2008. He also appeared with the North Carolina Symphony and the Juilliard Symphony, as well as returning to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
During the 2005-06 season he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Samson et Dalila, starring Olga Borodina, to the Washington National Opera for L'Elisir d'Amore, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari for Massenet's Cherubin, to the Los Angeles Opera for La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, and appeared at the Aspen and Grant Park Music Festivals.Other engagements include his debut at the Metropolitan Opera for Madama Butterfly, his return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for La Rondine with Angela Gheorghiu, and to the Los Angeles Opera for La Bohème starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna.
Born in Strasbourg in 1964, Emmanuel Villaume began his musical education at the Strasbourg Conservatory and continued his studies in Paris, where he received degrees in literature, philosophy and musicology. He also studied dramatic arts and performed in theatrical productions. The author of noted musicological articles and research papers, he was appointed Dramaturg of the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg at the age of 21. During his tenure there he came to the attention of Spiros Argiris, Music Director of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, who invited him to conduct and narrate Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis in 1987, followed by an invitation to make his American debut at the 1990 Spoleto Festival USA with Le Nozze di Figaro.
Maestro Villaume has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera for Madama Butterfly, Samson et Dalila, and Carmen; with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Les Contes d'Hoffmann and La Rondine; the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Samson et Dalila, Manon, and The Merry Widow; the Washington National Opera for La Rondine, Norma, Le Cid, Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Lucia di Lammermoor; San Francisco Opera for Madama Butterfly; Los Angeles Opera for Les Contes d'Hoffmann, La Rondine and Grande Duchesse; Santa Fe Opera for Carmen; Dallas Opera for Faust and Le Nozze di Figaro; Sarasota Opera for Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Die Zauberflöte and Manon; Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for La Rondine and Faust; Cologne Opera for La Bohème and Werther; Bastille Opera for Rigoletto; Hamburg Staatsoper with Der Fliegende Holländer; Toulouse Opera for Mignon; Bonn Opera for La Fanciulla del West; Tokyo Bunka Kaikan for Der Rosenkavalier; Martina Franca Opera for La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein; Montreal Opera for La Vie Parisienne; Opéra Marseilles for Pelléas et Mélisande, Carmen and Norma; Nice Opera for Faust; Monte Carlo Opera for La Périchole and Werther and the Klangbogen Festival in Vienna for Don Quichotte and Goya with Plácido Domingo.
He has led the Montreal Symphony in Montreal and at Carnegie Hall; the Quebec Symphony; the Chicago Symphony; the Boston Symphony at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood; the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Detroit and Utah Symphonies; the Minnesota Orchestra; Orchestre de Paris; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Beethovenhalle Orchestra of Bonn; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Duisburger Philharmoniker; Orchestre symphonique national du Danemark, Orchestre de la Radio norvégienne; Kungliga Filharmonikerna and the Prague Philharmonic; the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane symphonies; Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Orchestra Verdi di Milano; and, in concert, the orchestras of the Bastille Opera, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and La Fenice, the latter in a concert performance of Berlioz' Les Troyens.
Emmanuel Villaume holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis.
He makes his home in Paris and New York.
August 2010