Conductor in Residence, Meitar Ensemble, Tel-Aviv
Pierre-André Valade was born in Corrèze, France in 1959. In 1991 he co-founded Ensemble Court-Circuit, of which he was Music Director until January 2008. He was Principal Conductor of Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen from 2009 – 2014, and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain in 2013. He is currently Conductor in Residence of the Meitar Ensemble in Tel-Aviv.
He is especially well-known and admired for his performances of repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries, and receives regular invitations from major festivals and orchestras in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. Of his many recordings, discs of music by Grisey and Dufourt have both won the Diapason d’or de l’année 1999 and the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros.
A regular guest conductor with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, other orchestras include BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia, Ulster, RTÉ National Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Norrbotten NEO, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble MusikFabrik, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony, Athens State Orchestra, La Scala Orchestra in Milan, Montreal Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra della RAI Torino, Accademia Nationale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Ensemble Intercontemporain, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Bit20 Bergen, Bodø Sinfonietta, Contrechamps Genève, the Asko Schoenberg Ensemble, I Pomeriggi Musicale, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony, Ensemble Modern and the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
Athelas Sinfonietta: Klang Festival
The Black Diamond, Copenhagen, May 2023
Pierre-André Valade's conducting was precise and dynamic...Almensk was Athelas Sinfonietta's best performance this evening, precisely because of the mastery of the low tone, the impeccable intonation and the exceedingly precise interplay – in which Pierre-André Valade naturally played a part.
Valdemar Lønsted, Information.dk
Ryan Latimer: Antiarkie
NMC Records
In Antiarkie, an ode from 2016 to the cartoon soundtracks that served as Latimer’s early introductions to instrumental music, the BBC Symphony Orchestra clatters, sparkles and guffaws
Claire Jackson, BBC Music Magazine - performance ***** recording ****
World premiere: 'Proserpine' new opera by Silvia Colasanti
Spoleto Festival, June 2019
Pierre-André Valade conducted with great conviction
Luigi Bellingardi, Opera Now Magazine
Pierre-André Valade, conducting the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, did a fine job in bringing the score alive, maintaining a vibrant momentum and balance, and providing the singers with the necessary support
Alan Neilson, Opera Wire
The first ever performance of Proserpine was of great quality, and highlighted its delicate musical and expressive richness. Pierre-André Valade's direction was attentive and precise, sensitive and refined, and he did an excellent job bringing the young Orchestra Giovanile Italiana to such a level
Mauro Mariani, Giornale della Musica
The score is like an elegant lace with very skilful orchestration and well-balanced vocal writing… conducted in a masterly fashion by Pierre-André Valade
Giuseppe Pennisi, Classical Music Daily
Credit also to the skill of conductor Pierre-André Valade, a true interpreter of 20th and 21st century repertoire who grew up under the wing of the great Luciano Berio
Tuttoggi Umbria
It was a warm success, certainly deserved for the refined score of Colasanti...the conductor Pierre-André Valade was very skilled in conducting the musicians of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana throughout the evening, who gave a committed performance
Francesco Arturo Saponaro, Succedeoggi.it
Stavanger Symfoniorkester: Works by Claude Debussy and Tristan Murail
Stavanger Konserthaus, March 2017
SSO’s exquisite performance of the work [Debussy’s La Mer], with a conductor who knows his Debussy in and out […] Lindberg came to the stage and showed a clear enthusiasm for conductor Valade, and for the magnificent performance of this work […]
Arnfinn Bø-Rygg, Stavanger Aftenblad
Murail: Le Partage des Eaux; Contes Cruels; Sillages CD review
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (Aeon)
Three orchestral works composed in successive decades, all of them recorded for the very first time in wonderfully diligent performances under Pierre-André Valade, provide a good introduction to Tristan Murail’s sound world.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian
These three works [are] superbly realised under the nuanced direction of Pierre-André Valade.
Christopher Dingle, BBC Music Magazine ****
Atthis composed by Georg Friedrich Haas and directed and designed by Netia Jones
Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London, April 2015
Haas’s accompaniment [is] scrupulously played by members of the London Sinfonietta under the baton of Pierre-André Valade.
George Hall, The Guardian ****
She [Claire Booth] is strongly supported by musicians from the London Sinfonietta, conducted sensitively by Pierre André Valade.
Alexandra Coghlan, theartsdesk.com ****
Speaking to the heart not the head, this production had that beauty which can occasionally result when fine artists uncompromisingly pursue a shared vision: a dream of love, chaste and exquisite.
Michael Church, The Independent *****
The Importance of Being Earnest
NI Opera (October 2013)
The Crash Ensemble play superbly for Pierre-André Valade.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian *****
Conductor Pierre- André Valade has a clear vision of pacing and balance.
David Byers, The Irish Times *****
Pierre-André Valade conducted with vigour and ebullience, relishing the music’s anarchic angularities and pungent irreverence.
Terry Blain, Opera Magazine
The conducting, by Pierre-André Valade, seemed faultless.
Andrew Mellor, Opera Now
Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra
March 2012
Everything came together for Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra’s French Impressions concert: a programme balancing Gallic favourites with a symphonic curiosity, a top-notch French conductor and a soloist whose CV includes more than a decade’s music-making in Paris.
Pierre-Andre Valade brought out both the ironies and the subtle rhythmic undercurrents of Ravel’ score, from the swirling Prelude, led by guest oboist Gordon Hunt to its final explosive Rigaudon...Roussel’s 1930 Symphony, delivered with astonishing panache by Valade, might look beyond France in its musical references but, at the same time, its orchestral brilliance and clarity stamp it as French.
Valade and his players delighted in Roussel’s touches of Mahlerian rustic as well as a rumbustious Finale almost as discursive as Charles Ives...Ravel closed the evening with his La Valse in which Valade conjured up images of possessed danceers swaying and swooping to their doom.
William Dart, New Zealand Herald
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