Frédéric Chaslin (; born 1963, in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) is a French conductor, composer and pianist.
Early life and education
The son of an architect,
Chaslin studied at the
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
, where he won first prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, piano accompaniment, vocal direction, and orchestration. He later studied at the
Mozarteum University of Salzburg
Mozarteum University Salzburg (German language, German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality; th ...
, where his mentors included Paul von Schilawsky.
Conductor
In 1989, Chaslin became an assistant conductor to
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
at the
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris.
History
In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ...
and at the
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
. In 1991, he held a similar post with
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.
Born in Montb ...
at the
Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1989 to 1991. Boulez gave him his first concerts at an international level in Roma (July 1991) and at the Festival Wien Modern (19 October 1991). Chaslin was music director of the Opera de
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
from 1991 to 1994. He was chief conductor of the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) from 1999 to 2002, between the music directorships of David Shallon and
Leon Botstein and again between 2011-2019. From 1999 to 2005, he was a resident conductor of the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic 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 ...
. He served as ''Generalmusikdirektor'' of the
Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2005 to 2006.
Chaslin first conducted in the United States at the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
in November 2002. In July 2009, he made his conducting debut at
Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...
(SFeO), in the first production of ''
La traviata'' to feature
Natalie Dessay as Violetta. In May 2010, SFeO announced the appointment of Chaslin as the company's second chief conductor in its history, effective October 1, 2010, with an initial contract of three years. He resigned his position with SFeO at the end of August 2012.
After making his house debut in the 1996/1997 season, Frédéric Chaslin became a fixture at the
Wiener Staatsoper
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic 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 ...
, where within 20 years he conducted more than 200 performances.
Frédéric Chaslin made his debut at the
Semperoper
The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the Th ...
Dresden in the 2016/2017 season with a new production of ''Les contes d'Hoffmann''.
Recent engagements as a conductor also include, among many symphony concerts all over the world, several opera productions at the
Teatro Comunale di Bologna
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season.
While there had been various theatres presenting opera in Bologna since the early ...
(''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
,
Aida)'' and ''
Cavalleria rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...
/
Pagliacci
''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...
'') and at
Opéra Royal de Wallonie (''
La Bohème
''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...
'', ''
Mignon
''Mignon'' () is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. ...
'' and ''
Lakmé''). He also led productions such as ''
Werther
''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...
'' at the
Royal Opera House Muscat and in Bergen, ''
Les contes d'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 ...
'' in Copenhagen, ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'' at the
Chorégies d'Orange
The ''Chorégies d'Orange'' is a summer opera festival held each August in Orange located about 21 kilometres north of Avignon in southern France. Performances are presented in the ancient Roman theatre, the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, the orig ...
, ''
Il barbiere di Siviglia'' in Savonlinna, ''
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' at the
Teatro La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especial ...
, ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'' in Monte Carlo, ''
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
'' at
La Monnaie in Brussels, ''
Die tote Stadt
(German for ''The Dead City''), Opus number, Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It premiered in ...
'' at the
Enescu Festival in Bucharest, ''
La fille du régiment
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
*"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...
'' at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and a new production of ''
La Gioconda'' at the
Teatro alla Scala
La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...
, where he leads a new staging of ''
Les contes d'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 ...
'' in 2023. In 2023, Frédéric Chaslin also returned to Tokyo to conduct concert performances of Puccini's
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
at the Tokyo Spring Festival with
Krassimira Stoyanova and Sir
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones (; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and ''Don Giovanni,'' but he has subsequ ...
.
Composer
Chaslin's compositions include the ''Chagall Suite'' for orchestra, ''Diva Dance'' for the film ''
The Fifth Element
''The Fifth Element'' () is a 1997 English-language French science-fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, and co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, an ...
'', songs and ''lieder'', and several operas, including adaptations of ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...
'' (libretto by P.H. Fisher) and of
S.P. Somtow's ''
Vampire Junction''.
He has also written a book on music, ''La Musique dans Tous les Sens'' (scheduled English title, ''Music in Every Sense''), published in 2009.
Chaslin also composed entire cycles based on poetry by Robert Frost. All three cycles have been performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra between 2012 and 2015, and are available on YouTube fo
listening Chaslin wrote a song cycle after Jean Cocteau for soprano, and has composed a musical based on
The Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was serialised from 1844 to 1846, and published in book form in 1846. It is one of his most popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers'' (184 ...
, commissioned by Plácido Domingo.
In January 2023, the album Rendez-vous was released on the
Aparté
Aparté is a French classical music record label founded in 2010 by Nicolas Bartholomée, director of Little Tribeca recording studios. Bartholomée had earlier founded the recording studio Musica Numeris in the late 1980s, and the Ambroisie label ...
label. It combines original music compositions by Frédéric Chaslin on poems by
Boris Vian
Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of th ...
,
Alain Duault and
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
, with short stories written by Arièle Butaux and read by
Pierre Arditi. Composed for a piano-voice-trumpet ensemble, Frédéric Chaslin's melodies (also on piano) are performed by soprano
Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann and trumpet player
Lucienne Renaudin Vary.
He publishes his works through Scodo, the subscription-scheme of Austrian Music publishing house Universal Edition.
Author
Chaslin's first novel, "Being Gustav Mahler", was released in 2017 by Fayard Publishing,. Available on France-Empire is "La Musique Dans tous les Sens", released in 2009.
Recordings
Recordings include Diana Damrau singing his "Vocalise" from "Wuthering Heights" (Warner) and an entire album for Sony Classical with Sonya Yoncheva, "Paris mon Amour".
Recently, Frédéric Chaslin has conducted the solo albums of
Rachel Willis-Sørensen and
Ludovic Tézier
Ludovic Tézier (born 1968 in Marseille) is a French operatic baritone.
Biography
Ludovic Tézier trained at the Paris Opéra’s École d’Art lyrique and at the Centre National d’Artistes Lyriques. He was a prize winner at Operalia, The ...
for
Sony Classical
Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired ...
as well as
Benjamin Bernheim
Benjamin Bernheim (9 June 1985) is a French lyric tenor known for his interpretation of Italian and French roles.
Education
Born in Paris, Benjamin Bernheim grew up in Geneva, where he studied violin and piano, before starting singing lessons ...
for
Deutsche Grammophone. On
Aparté
Aparté is a French classical music record label founded in 2010 by Nicolas Bartholomée, director of Little Tribeca recording studios. Bartholomée had earlier founded the recording studio Musica Numeris in the late 1980s, and the Ambroisie label ...
,
Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann's album "Chansons Pour Elle", the albums "Cellopera", opera arias arranged by Chaslin with
Ophélie Gaillard playing the cello and "Rendez-vous" have been published.
Personal quote: "I'm happy being busy, as long as I'm busy being happy".
References
External links
Rayfield Allied - Agent siteIl Trittico agency biography of ChaslinKlassik Heute German-language timeline biography of Chaslin*
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra biography of Chaslin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaslin, Frédéric
1963 births
French male conductors (music)
Living people
Musicians from Paris
French male composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Mozarteum University Salzburg alumni
20th-century French conductors (music)
20th-century French male musicians
21st-century French conductors (music)
21st-century French male musicians