Fabrice Bollon

Biography

With beginning of the 2022/23 season, Fabrice Bollon has been appointed Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Halle and Musical Director of the Halle Opera with the title of General Music Director.

The internationally highly esteemed and versatile French conductor studied with Michael Gielen and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Paris and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He then continued his studies with Georges Prêtre and Mauricio Kagel.

He was assistant at the Salzburg Festival, deputy General Music Director of the Chemnitz Opera (2000-2004) and Principal Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra (1996-2000). Thus he developed a broad repertoire at that time and was invited to orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, MDR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, Residentie Orkest, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern.

Since he was appointed General Music Director of the City of Freiburg in 2008, the orchestra and the opera section have experienced an unparalleled development under his direction: extremely popular with the Freiburg audience, which is reflected in very high occupancy rates on the one hand, and the number of positions in the orchestra having been increased in two phases on the other. In September 2016, Bollon extended his contract, which had been voted unanimously by the municipal council, and started a collaboration with the labels Naxos and CPO including both, CDs and DVDs for opera and orchestral productions.

His work in Freiburg also receives international recognition: guest appearances with the opera section (Tannhäuser and Parsifal) have taken him to the UK, and his recordings with CPO have won coveted prizes: in 2015 he received a Diapason d’or and a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” for the recordings of “Francesca da Rimini” by Zandonai, and in 2017 an “Editor’s Choice” for Goldmark’s “Queen of Saba”.

German critics also acknowledge this work, which is based on continuity and quality: three nominations as Conductor of the Year 2010 in the Opernwelt magazine ranking for his interpretation of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung”, eight nominations for the Orchestra of the Year between 2011 and 2017, best concert programme for the 2012-13 season, and best opera rediscovery 2016 for “I Gioielli della Madonna” by Wolf-Ferrari.

In addition to his work in Freiburg, Fabrice Bollon gives annual guest performances at the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow (e.g. with Wagner’s Tannhäuser), at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest (Aida), as well as with the Belgrade Philharmonic and Ljubljana Radio Orchestras. He also conducts regularly in Hungary, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Austria and Monte Carlo.

Fabrice Bollon also works as a composer. His works have been published by Edition Peters and performed by the SWR Symphony Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern as well as in various countries. His family opera “Oscar and the Lady in Rosa” was praised by critics as one of the few successful examples of this genre and had twelve sold-out performances.

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