The preeminent orchestra of the French-speaking regions of Belgium, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, also known as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the OPRL, or the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra, has performed throughout Belgium, the Benelux countries, and France. The orchestra has championed music by Belgian composers in addition to a diet of French, German, and contemporary music in its frequent concerts at the Salle Philharmonique de Liège.
The orchestra was founded in 1960 by conductor Fernand Quinet, who served as music director until 1964. Pierre Bartholomée served as music director for 22 years, from 1977 to 1999. The orchestra's eight conductors have included several who have gone on to international careers, among them future Cincinnati Symphony conductor Louis Langrée (2001-2006). Since 2011 the orchestra's music director has been the Austrian-born Christian Arming. Jean-Jacques Kantorow, who has also experienced success in the U.S., has served as guest conductor and led the orchestra on recordings. Programming has included the works of such contemporary composers as Philippe Boesmans, Henri Dutilleux, and Magnus Lindberg.
The OPRL's commitment to Belgian music is especially apparent in the recording studio. The group has been especially active on recordings in the 2010s. After backing French violinist Laurent Korcia on a 2011 recording of concertos by Tchaikovsky and Korngold, the group has issued recordings by Eugène Ysaÿe and Joseph Jongen for the label Musique en Wallonie. In 2014, the orchestra began a cycle of Ottorino Respighi's lesser-known orchestral works with Impressioni brasilianne and La Boutique fantasque; in 2018, BIS issued its versions of the very rarely heard Respighi works Vetrate di Chiesa, Il Tramonto, and Trittico Botticelliano. The OPRL has also recorded for the Naïve and Cyprès labels. In February of 2018, the orchestra mounted a "Festival l'enfant prodigue," examining the music of Mozart in a context of that by other compositional prodigies. ~ James Manheim
Gergely Madaras is the music director of the Orchestra Philharmonique Royal de Liège in Belgium. He is frequently active as a guest conductor with both symphonic and operatic ensembles.
Madaras was born in Budapest in 1984. His earliest musical education came from Hungarian Romani and peasant musicians, beginning at age five. Madaras went on to study flute, violin, and composition at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, graduating with a flute degree. He studied conducting with Mark Stringer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 2011, Madaras won the Arte Live Web Prize and placed as a finalist at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. He landed posts as music director of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne in France in 2013 and as chief conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in his native country the following year.
As his reputation grew, Madaras was increasingly in demand as a guest conductor, appearing with numerous orchestras around Britain, France, Hungary, and other European countries. He has also appeared with the Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, as well as others farther afield. Madaras has often been a guest at festivals, including the Budapest Spring Festival, Bucharest Enescu Festival, and Tokyo Stradivarius Festival. Madaras has a long record as an opera conductor, beginning with a stint as the Sir Charles Mackerras Fellow at the English National Opera from 2012 to 2014; that led to an operatic debut at the London Coliseum in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and to engagements with such companies and houses as the Dutch National Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Hungarian State Opera. Madaras favors traditional Classical and Romantic repertory, but he served as assistant to Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy from 2011 to 2013 and since then has shown a commitment to contemporary music, collaborating with such composers as George Benjamin, Péter Eötvös, and György Kurtág. Becoming music director of the Orchestra Philharmonique Royal de Liège in 2019, he made his recording debut there that year with a contemporary work, Philippe Boesmans' Fin de nuit for piano and orchestra, on the Cypres Records label. Madaras remained active as a flutist, appearing in 2022 on the Rubicon album Doppler, Kuhlau: Romantic & Virtuoso Music for Flutes & Piano. In 2023, he led the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on the recording Jonathan Dove: In Exile on the Lyrita label. ~ James Manheim
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