Rophé Pascal
Although known as one of the foremost exponents of the 20th-century repertoire and invited regularly by all the major European ensembles dedicated to contemporary music, Pascal Rophé has also built up an enviable reputation for his interpretations of the great symphonic repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries. This balance is in perfect coherence with the shock he experienced on discovering the three scores that acted as the catalyst to his conducting career: the Rite of Spring by Stravinsky, Le Marteau sans maître by Pierre Boulez and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
From 1992, after studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and winning the 2nd Prize at the 1988 Besançon International Competition, he went on to collaborate closely with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble intercontemporain, where he also worked extensively with David Robertson. Pascal Rophé is committed to the operatic repertoire which he considers, like contemporary music, should be as accessible to audiences as the more mainstream “classical“ repertoire. He devotes himself, on average, to two operatic productions per season (Pélléas et Mélisande with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Thaïs for Opera di Roma, Der fliegende Holländer and Dialogue des Carmélites at the Budapest Spring Festival). Among the contemporary operas he has championed are Michael Jarrell’s Galilée for Geneva’s Grand Théâtre, Ahmed Essyad’s Héloïse et Abélard for the Châtelet, Michèle Reverdy’s Medée for Opéra de Lyon, and most recently, Bruno Mantovani’s L’Autre côté for the Cité de la Musique. In April 2011 he premiered Akhmatova, the latest opera by Bruno Mantovani, at the Opéra National de Paris to great acclaim.
In France and abroad, Pascal Rophé has worked with many major orchestras including the orchestras of Radio France, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTE National Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, RAI Torino, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. He also served for three years as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège–Bruxelles until June 2009.
Pascal Rophé has an extensive discography and his CDs have received numerous awards: he received his first Choc de la Musique with his recording of Éric Tanguy’s Intrada with the Orchestre National de France, and his CD of works by Thierry Escaich with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège received another Choc de la Musique, a “10“ from “Répertoire” magazine, and the Diapason d’Or for the best contemporary music CD. His latest CDs include the music of Ivan Fedele and Luigi Dallapiccola with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Torino, a CD with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande dedicated to the work of Michael Jarrell which won the Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Charles Cros, and a CD of Saint-Saëns and Dutilleux with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, winning another Choc du Monde de la Musique.
In 2009, the Naïve label released, to great acclaim, the first recording of Pascal Dusapin’s Seven Solosfor orchestra with Pascal Rophé conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège. His latest CD is the Concerto for Two Violas and Orchestra by Bruno Mantovani, with Tabea Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit and the Orchestre Royal Philharmonique de Liège–Bruxelles.
