Jean-Paul Penin par Claude Truong-Ngoc 1980

Jean-Paul Penin is a French conductor.

Biography

Jean-Paul Penin is a graduate of the

Strasbourg Conservatory of Music The Conservatoire de Strasbourg is a music conservatory located in Strasbourg, France. The school was created using funds given to the city of Strasbourg by arts patron Louis Apffel in 1839. The conservatoire's first day of classes began on 3 Janua ...

(

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

, chamber music, 1978) and the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

where he obtained a PhD. in

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

in 1974 and a Master's degree in musicology in 1978. He went on to the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique where he studied musicology with Yves Gérard in 1978. He was a Fulbright scholar in 1979 at the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodg ...

where he studied analysis with

John Coolidge Adams John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer and conductor whose music is rooted in minimalism. Among the most regularly performed composers of contemporary classical music, he is particularly noted for his operas, which a ...

and obtained a M.A. in conducting. In 1979, Penin won an award at the international Tokyo Min-On Competition. From 1980 to 1981 he was

Alain Lombard Alain Lombard (born 4 October 1940, Paris) is a French conductor. Career Lombard attended the Conservatoire de Paris, where his studied violin with Line Talleul and conducting with Gaston Poulet. He subsequently secured an appointment at the ...

's assistant at the

Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra The Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra) is a French orchestra based in Strasbourg. It is one of the two permanent orchestras of the Opéra national du Rhin (the other being the Orchestre symphonique de Mulho ...

and from 1982 to 1984 Lorin Maazel's assistant at the

Vienna Staatsoper The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Si ...

. He was the principal guest conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kraków Philharmonic from 1989 to 1993. In May 1986, Penin stepped in with just one night's notice, for a live Dutch radio symphony concert (NOS). Again, in 1990, when he was just back from a Russian tour, he performed at the

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...

in Amsterdam, for the Dutch première of Olivier Messiaen's piano concerto ''La Ville d'en haut'', in the presence of the composer, (Yvonne Loriod, soloist, TV broadcast, Radio Philharmonic). This had been premièred by Pierre Boulez in New York one year before. (''De Volkskrant'', November 12, 1990). Penin was given the exclusive rights by Bärenreiter for the French première of Berlioz's '' Messe Solennelle'', which had lately been discovered. He recorded the work (first world recording, Vezelay Basilica, 7 October 1993,

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

, Accord-Universal and

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

), and was invited to conduct the work all over the world, including the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...

in Buenos-Aires in May 1998 and at the Santander International Festival in 2003. In September 2000, he was invited to Prague for the Dvořák Festival, with the National Radio-Symphony Orchestra. Following this concert, he was invited to tour with the orchestra ( Berlioz, '' l'Enfance du Christ'', Madrid, Auditorio Nacional, 2002 and 2003 with Spontini's ''Fernand Cortez''). Three years in a row, the

series invited him for tour concerts (Berlioz, Saint-Saëns,

Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

). One of his concerts ( Bartók-Debussy, 2002) with the Dresden Philharmonic was broadcast live on the radio in 24 countries. This was followed by a Berlioz program at the Dresden Semperoper Staatskapelle in 2004. The previous year the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet had invited him to conduct Poulenc's '' Dialogues des Carmélites''. After two series with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, he was invited by the Korean National Opera to take part in a production of Offenbach's ''

Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'').

Official awards

Poland : Merit National Order : Officer (1993) France : National Arts et lettres Order : Chevalier (1997)

Sources

*Entry "Jean-Paul Penin", ''Dictionnaire des interprètes'', Paris, Laffont, collection "Bouquins".

Compositions

* Nuits Parisiennes, Suite for orchestra. Premiered in Milano (December 12, 2004, Orchestra Pomeriggi musicali) * Nuits Parisiennes, complete ballet

Recordings

Jean-Paul Penin is praised by the musical press for his interest for forgotten masterpieces. *

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's cantatas ''Joseph II'' and ''Leopold II''. * Berlioz's ''Messe Solennelle''. *

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

'', French Berlioz's version with recitatives. * Spontini's '' Fernand Cortez'', which he also premiered in Paris (2002), under the sponsorship of the Napoleon Foundation and stage-premiered at the Erfurt Opera House, 2006). ''Fernand Cortez

* Chabrier's opera ''Gwendoline'', whose recording was praised as "one of last years' most interesting recordings" (opéra international). *

Antonio Sacchini Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini (14 June 1730 – 6 October 1786) was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Sacchini was born in Florence, but raised in Naples, where he received his musical education. He made a name for him ...

's '' Oedipe à Colone'', given by King Louis XVI for the opening of the Versailles Royal Palace opera house.

Writings and links

Les ''Baroqueux ou le Musicalement Correct''
Editions Gründ, Paris, 2000. *NMZ, Neue Muzikzeitung.
''L'Interprète face à la partition. Muséographie ou appropriation ?''
Prague National Music Academy 2000 *''Messe Solennelle''

''Les Premières Armes du jeune Berlioz: La Messe Solennelle''
Revue Internationale d'Etudes musicales, Editions Jean-Michel Place, Paris, 2004.]
"La Messe Solennelle de Berlioz"
''Le Monde'', October 13, 1993
"La Messe Solennelle de Berlioz"
''La Croix'', October 13, 1993

(Werner Gladines, 2007, Dutch/French/English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Penin, Jean-Paul 1949 births Living people People from Saint-Dizier French male conductors (music) San Francisco Conservatory of Music alumni Conservatoire de Paris alumni 21st-century French conductors (music) 21st-century French male musicians 21st-century American male musicians