Philippe Auguin, Direction
Philippe Auguin is the Conductor in Residence of the Greek National Opera in Athens and he is the Music Director Emeritus of the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
M° Auguin is a consummate conductor with an extensive career performing with extraordinary orchestras in the world leading opera houses. In past seasons, he has led performances at Metropolitan Opera New York (Doktor Faust, Die Frau ohne Schatten, La bohème, Lohengrin, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Arabella), at Vienna State Opera (Die Tote Stadt, Aida, Simon Boccanegra just to name a few), at Teatro alla Scala Milan (Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Macbeth, Dialogues des carmélites), at Royal Opera House London (La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Carmen, La bohème, Tosca), at Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tannhäuser, Der Fliegende Holländer, Aida, Carmen, Fidelio and many more), Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires (Manon), at Grand Théâtre de Genève (Der Rosenkavalier), at Savonlinna Opera Festival (Mefistofele and others), at Salzburg Festival (Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Wiener Philharmoniker).
In concert, M° Auguin celebrated many highly acclaimed performances, including Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben with the Münchner Philharmoniker, and he has also led performances with Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, NHK Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and many others. Philippe Auguin’s broad symphonic repertoire spans the canon, reaching from early music to the emblematic works of Bruckner, Strauss, Stravinsky and Bartok, and the complete symphonic works of Gustav Mahler. Also renowned for his work with contemporary composers, Mo. Auguin has conducted pieces by Hans-Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies, Aribert Reimann, Peter Ruzicka, and Pierre Boulez.
Philippe Auguin studied conducting in Vienna and Florence. He was the assistant conductor and musical assistant of Herbert von Karajan until 1989. From this date, although already busy with his own concerts and opera performances, he accepted on the expressed request of Sir Georg Solti to rehearse for him opera productions and concerts in Salzburg, Vienna, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Milan. Philippe Auguin conducted the London Symphony in Westminster Abbey at the memorial for Sir Georg Solti in 1998.
M° Auguin was made an Honorary Consul of the French Republic in 2002. For his contribution to German culture, he was awarded the Cross of Federal Merit of the German Republic in 2005.
Recent highlights include Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung at Opera Australia Brisbane, Medée at Greek National Opera Athens, Verdi’s Otello at Maryland Lyric Opera, Tosca at Odeon of Herodes Atticus Athens, Andrea Chènier at Greek National Opera, New Year concert at Oper Stuttgart, La clemenza di Tito at Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona.