Biography
Conductor
Cristian Măcelaru
The newly appointed artistic director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Cristian Măcelaru is also music director of the Orchestre National de France, chief conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester, artistic director and principal conductor the World Youth Symphony at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and music director and conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
This season he appears with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Philadelphia Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony. In his fourth season as chief conductor at the WDR Sinfonieorchester, he performs in a summer festival tour with violinist Augustin Hadelich, appearing in London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Odense, and Bonn. In his third season as music director of the Orchestre National de France, he leads the orchestra in their first international tour together.
Mr. Măcelaru was born in Timișoara, Romania, the youngest of 10 in a musical family. Like all his siblings, he received music lessons at an early age—in his case, on violin. His studies took him from Romania to the Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Miami, and Rice University, where he studied conducting with Larry Rachleff. He deepened his knowledge at Tanglewood and in masterclasses at Aspen Music Festival. The youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at age 19. He first attracted international attention in 2012, when he stepped into the breach with the Chicago Symphony, deputizing for Pierre Boulez. That same year he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed in 2014 by the Solti Conducting Award. In 2020 Mr. Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for conducting Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra for Decca Classics. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in October 2018.
March 2023
This season he appears with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Philadelphia Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony. In his fourth season as chief conductor at the WDR Sinfonieorchester, he performs in a summer festival tour with violinist Augustin Hadelich, appearing in London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Odense, and Bonn. In his third season as music director of the Orchestre National de France, he leads the orchestra in their first international tour together.
Mr. Măcelaru was born in Timișoara, Romania, the youngest of 10 in a musical family. Like all his siblings, he received music lessons at an early age—in his case, on violin. His studies took him from Romania to the Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Miami, and Rice University, where he studied conducting with Larry Rachleff. He deepened his knowledge at Tanglewood and in masterclasses at Aspen Music Festival. The youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at age 19. He first attracted international attention in 2012, when he stepped into the breach with the Chicago Symphony, deputizing for Pierre Boulez. That same year he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed in 2014 by the Solti Conducting Award. In 2020 Mr. Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for conducting Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra for Decca Classics. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in October 2018.
March 2023
