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PHILIPPE CASSARD 33
Jacques Mercier
Music Director and Permanent Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lorraine
Jacques Mercier graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
de Pariswith a Premier Prix in conducting by unanimous decision of the jury, and also
won First Prize at the International Young Conductors’ Competition in Besançon.
He worked as assistant to Pierre Boulez at the Opéra de Paris and the Ensemble
Intercontemporain and received guidance from Herbert von Karajan. He then
rapidly embarked on an international career conducting such prestigious
formations as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, London
Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Described as a ‘souveräner Dirigent’ in Berlin, Jacques Mercier has appeared at the
Salzburg Festival and in cities like Seoul, Montreal, Kyoto, Helsinki – and Madrid,
where the critics called him ‘one of the finest French and European conductors of
his generation’.
From 1982 to 2002, JacquesMercier was artistic director and permanent conductor
of the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France.
Jacques Mercier was permanent conductor of the Turku Philharmonic in Finland
for seven years: a decisive experience in his approach to works by the composers
of northern Europe, such as Sibelius, whose music he endeavours to make known
in France. But his talent, a combination of precision, rigour, finesse and extreme
sensitivity, is also splendidly illustrated in the French repertory of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, right up to the music of today, of which he is a passionate
champion. He has premiered works by Iannis Xenakis, Luis de Pablo, Philippe
Manoury,Wolfgang Rihm, Martin Matalon and Pascal Dusapin, among others.
In the opera house, Jacques Mercier specialises in works drawn from the French
repertoire, including
Carmen
,
Faust
,
Béatrice et Benedict
,
Lakmé
and
Les Pêcheurs de
perles.