Philippe Jordan will take charge of the French national orchestra in 2027

The Swiss conductor will return to Paris at the head of the permanent formation of Radio France, after a stormy stint as musical director of the Vienna Opera.

Rback home and farewell to the lyric. The announcement this morning of the appointment of Philippe Jordan as head of the National Orchestra of France, from September 2027, marks two turning points in the Swiss conductor’s career. After a stormy stint as musical director of the prestigious Vienna State Opera (2020-2025), this former assistant to Daniel Barenboim, born in Zurich in 1974, will return to the city which welcomed him for fourteen years as conductor of his opera house, the Paris Opera. Over the course of this long mandate (2009-2021), he was able to establish a strong bond with the Parisian public, thanks to his lively leadership, his sense of refinement and nuance, and his rather charismatic personality. This return to what he considers to be his “second homeland” therefore arouses great enthusiasm in him. “I am very happy to return to Paris, a city where the public has always welcomed me well,” he admits in an interview with Monde. Already, in 2018, he declared to the same newspaper: “ I like living in Paris. France will remain the country that trusted me. »

But the real change of direction is above all of an artistic order. With this designation, Philippe Jordan made a sharp shift towards the symphonic, abandoning – except perhaps for a pair of annual guest productions – what had until then been his specialty, namely, conducting operas. Symphonic work, dedicated entirely to the intention of a composer expressed through a score, is clearly distinguished from lyrical work, where the orchestra, in its pit, must demonstrate constant vigilance and flexibility to adapt to what is being played and sung on set. A jump which, for the Swiss maestro, stands out today as a “obviousness”, he still indicates to Monde.

An untenable situation in Vienna

Especially since his position at the Vienna Opera had become unbearable. Appointed musical director in 2020, he did not wait two years to signal that he would not renew his contract in 2025. In question, his conflictual relationship with the general director Bogdan Roscic, former president of Sony Classical, revealing more and more « divergences » and“incompatibilities”. A classic, ultimately, at the head of this legendary hall where Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan officiated, and whose succession of directors is a long list of intrigues and slamming doors. Here, Jordan’s non-extension appears to be the result of a desire for Roscic to take control of the institution alone. The latter, in the Austrian press, had announced that he wanted to put an end to the regime of diarchy which prevails at the top of the Viennese establishment, to only solicit in the future invited chefs on an ad hoc basis. Jordan, in everyday life Delivery man, had strongly criticized his employer’s staging choices, believing that the theater had committed itself to this matter “in a fatal bad way”. In his job as opera conductor, he believes he has reached the end of an impasse, deploring that the theatrical and musical dimensions are no longer developed with a concern for unity and co-construction, the first too often imposing itself on the second. Too many contradictory and difficult issues to manage intersect at the heart of operatic creation, the musician prefers to move on to something else…

Belonging to a narrow circle of the most sought-after batons in the world, Philippe Jordan had the opportunity to refine his symphonic stature when he was in charge of the Vienna Symphony (2014-2020), in parallel with the Vienna State Opera. Paris. He had produced remarkable Brahms and Beethoven integrals there, and had recreated, with Nicholas Angelich (1970-2022) on the piano, the legendary concert of December 22, 1808 during which the great Ludwig had revealed his shattering Fifthwithin a four-hour program. In Paris, he will succeed the duller Cristian Macelaru, who led the “Natio” for seven years. In 2027, having reached the end of his contract, the Romanian will then head to Ohio, in the United States, to take the reins of the Cincinnati Orchestra.

But already, without delay, we will be able to hear the orchestra this Thursday evening under the baton of its future boss, with a Messiaen and Bruckner program which could give some indications on the directions to come.

Thursday, November 21, 8 p.m., at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique, 116, av du Président-Kennedy, Paris 16th. The Forgotten Offerings, by Olivier Messiaen, Symphony No. 7, d’Anton Bruckner. Direction : Philippe Jordan.