Orchestre National de France
Daniele Gatti, Music Director
The Orchestre National de France (ONF), a Radio France formation, was the first permanent
symphony orchestra to be established in France.
A tradition of prestige since its creation in 1934
The Orchestre National de France has from the very beginning made a habit of cooperating
with the most prestigious artists in the world, including Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin
Davis, Antal Dorati, Eugen Jochum, Igor Markevitch, Lovro Von Matacic, Riccardo Muti, Seiji
Ozawa, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Georg Solti, Evgueni Svetlanov, Yuri Temirkanov,
Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nelson Freire, Yo-Yo Ma, Yehudi Menuhin,
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Vlado Perlemuter, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Arthur
Rubinstein and Isaac Stern.
The ONF continues this tradition in the 2014-2015 season by featuring the world’s most
esteemed conductors and soloists: Bernard Haitink, Marc Albrecht, Nikolaj Znaider ,Barry Douglas,
Angelika Kirschschlager, Xavier de Maistre, Arabella Steinbacher, Kristjan Järvi, Viktoria Mullova,
Stéphane Denève, Semyon Bychkov, Vadim Gluzman, Vassily Sinaisky, Olivier Latry, Juanjo Mena,
David Afkham, Fazil Say, Robin Ticciati, Alexandre Tharaud. The season will feature Mendelssohn, a
six-day Schumann marathon, an all-American themed series, an homage to Richard Strauss on the
150th anniversary of the German composer’s birth, and a presentation of Bach’s St. John Passion.
A history of conductors
Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht, first conductor of the ONF, established the Orchestra’s musical
tradition as the pride of the French music world. After the war, Manuel Rosenthal, André Cluytens,
Roger Désormière, Charles Munch, Maurice Le Roux and Jean Martinon perpetuated this tradition.
Sergiu Celibidache, who was the Orchestra’s first Guest Conductor from 1973 to 1975, was succeeded
by Lorin Maazel who became the ONF’s Music Director. From 1989 to 1998, Jeffrey Tate served as
Principal Guest Conductor, while Charles Dutoit was Music Director from 1991 to 2001. Starting in
September 2002, Kurt Masur took over the Orchestra’s musical direction for six seasons until Daniele
Gatti assumed the position in September 2008. In 2008, Masur became the orchestra’s lifelong
Honorary Music Director. They brought together many aspects of the symphonic canon while
interpreting the major works of French composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Berlioz, and created
comprehensive series of Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky. 2014-2015 will feature a
similar series with the complete symphonies of Schumann.
Concerts in Paris and tours
The ONF performs an average of seventy concerts a year at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées,
its home in Paris, and at various venues around France and throughout the world while on tour. By the
end of the 2014-2015 season, the Orchestre National de France will have been in Essen, Eindhoven,
Basel, Zagreb, Milan, Ravello, Rimini, Udine, Merano, Florence, and Bucharest. The ONF will be in
Montpellier as host orchestra of the Festival de Radio France.
Premiering of major works
The ONF can be proud that it has premiered major 20th century works such as Soleil des eaux
by Pierre Boulez, the Turangalila-Symphony by Messiaen (1950, French premiere), Déserts by Edgar
Varèse, triggering a memorable scandal (1954), and Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis (1977), as well as
Henri Dutilleux’s 1ère Symphonie (1951), Timbres, Espace, Mouvement (1978), the Violin Concerto
L'Arbre des Songes in cooperation with Isaac Stern (1985), the nocturne for violin and orchestra Sur le
même accord (2003, French premiere with Anne-Sophie Mutter) and Correspondances for vocals and
orchestra (2004, premiere of the revised version) and more recently Le Temps l’Horloge directed by
Seiji Ozawa with Renée Fleming (2008). In the 2013-2014 season, the complete symphonies of
Beethoven were given in five concerts under Daniele Gatti, with a newly created piece at each concert
as commissioned by Radio France for a French Composer (Guillaume Connesson, Bechara ElKhoury, Bruno Mantovani, Fabien Waksman, and Pascal Zavaro).
Concert broadcasts
The ONF's complete season is broadcast on Radio France Musique and many concerts are also
aired on the web, as well as on channels like Arte, France 2, France 3, or Mezzo.
Recordings
The orchestra's life has been marked out by a great many recordings. Among the more recent
are a recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Petrushka from the centenary of the former’s
creation, a disk of Debussy under the baton of Daniele Gatti, and Pelléas et Mélisande by Debussy
led by Bernard Haïtink, voted "Best Classical Recording of the Year" at the "Victoires de la Musique
Classique" awards. Kurt Masur has led recordings of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovitch.
With Daniele Gatti, the orchestra has recorded Mahler's Sixth Symphony. All ONF recordings are
currently made through Sony.
Educational activities
In order to give a taste of classical music where its discovery is still novel, the ONF has for ten
years put on rich and varied programs conceived by the musicians themselves.
With the opening of the Auditorium de Radio France, the concerts and activities aimed at
children accompanied by their parents have been multiplies with the creation of additional series of
symphonic concerts dedicated to a younger public. “The Great Classics of the Future,” “Musical
Comedy,” “Music Makes Its Own Cinema,” and “Hello, Doctor?” have all been active in promoting
youth engagement. It has been advertised that new concert program was specially created for children
in January 2015.
Amateur musicians have never been more appreciated: many important projects now allow
musicians from age 5 to 95 a great opportunity to play alongside professional counterparts.