Emmanuel Villaume

Latest News

Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra appointment

In October 2008, Emmanuel Villaume was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

A discussion with Emmanuel Villaume

Los Angeles Opera Podcast - Bizet's Carmen

Maestro Villaume gives an extended interview to Bruce Duffie of The Opera Journal.

Interview with Emmanuel Villaume

New Recordings:

- LA RONDINE (DVD)

Maestro Villaume conducts the Washington National Opera Orchestra. With Ainhoa Arteta and Marcus Haddock.

- SOUVENIRS

Souvenirs - Maestro Villaume conducts the Prague Philharmonia and soprano Anna Netrebko in works by Charpentier, Grieg, Lehar and Offenbach.

- FRENCH HEROINES - Airs d'opéras français

French Heroines - Airs d'opéras français has been released
on CD on the Decca label. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the Orchestra
Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo with Nathalie Manfrino, soprano.
Works by Gounod, Massenet, Delibes, Debussy.

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In the press

Spoleto Festival Orchestra and violin superstar Sarah Chang bring the house down -

Villaume and friends deliver overwhelming, emotion-drenched music.

The second festival orchestral extravaganza at the Gaillard featured a pair of Western music's most exalted monuments: the quality of music that we've come to expect from Maestro Emmanuel Villaume's vaunted festival concerts.

The evening's first half was devoted to Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, the only fiddle concerto that the German romantic master left us. And violin Goddess Sarah Chang — this year's distinguished soloist — gave us a rendition to remember, with some brilliant help from her orchestral colleagues.

Villaume and company offered precise and sensitive support — plus some spectacular playing of their own in the extended orchestral passages. The capacity crowd showed its appreciation with an explosive standing ovation, taking us to intermission.

In the Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 ("the Pathétique"), from the first movement's opening bassoon lament, I knew this would be a performance to remember. After the first gloriously brassy climax, the music settled into the famous "yearning" theme that seems to pine for happiness just beyond reach. It morphed gradually into an anguished outcry, with burning gushes of throbbing string sound, echoed by aching woodwinds.

The second movement lightened things up a bit, with its flowing quasi-waltz in 5/4 meter. The following section, a jaunty march-caricature, was delivered with a sort of celebratory glory that I've never heard in this music before.

In the finale, Villaume drew wrenching, razor-sharp pangs of naked grief from them as they descended into the music's final, bottomless pit of unrelenting gloom. I've never, ever heard such wretched sadness from an orchestra before.

Lindsay Koob, Charleston City Paper
June 4, 2009

 

The second big orchestral concert of Spoleto Festival USA Tuesday night at Gaillard Municipal Auditorium was remarkable for its spectacular performances.

Conductor Emmanuel Villaume proved himself a master [with Sarah Chang performing} of Johannes Brahms' "Violin Concerto in D Major." It was grand and dramatic under his baton.

Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 6 in B Minor" ("Pathetique") plumbs the depths of sadness and surrender. Villaume brought a strong emotional element to the music without overdoing it.

His grasp of the overall symphonic architecture was uncommonly skillful and suitably intense. The vigorous and energetic third-movement march generated more spontaneous applause and a few "Bravos." The Finale, with its stately, extended lament, was emotionally overpowering. The orchestra again triumphed with its ensemble cohesion and responsiveness to Tchaikovsky's emotional music.

William Furtwangler
The Charleston Post and Courier
June 3, 2009

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