Around the Music Festival

The Festival International de Colmar in France has announced the appointment of French conductor Alain Altinoglu as Artistic Director. He succeeds Vladimir Spivakov, who founded the festival in 1989 and has led it as its artistic director ever since.

Altinoglu, 47, was born in Paris in 1975. Raised in Armenian family from Istanbul, he studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris before making his conducting debut.

He has been music director of the La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium, since the 2014/2015 season and of the hr Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) in Germany since the 2020/2021 season.

Spivakov, 78, was born in Ufa, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Bashkortostan. He studied with Yury Yankelevich at the Moscow Conservatory and became one of the leading violinists in the former Soviet Union before turning to conducting.

In 1979, he founded the Moscow Virtuoso Chamber Orchestra with other graduates of his alma mater, the Moscow Conservatory, and has served as its artistic director ever since. Since 2003, he has served as artistic director and chief conductor of the National Philharmonic of Russia, which was established under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.

Immediately after Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine this past February, he wrote and distanced himself from the Putin administration on a petition led by Vladimir Ulin, general manager of the Bolshoi Theater, calling for an end to “special operations in Ukraine.

Subsequently, its activities were reportedly restricted and the 2022 Music Festival was canceled. The festival is now starting over with Altinoglu.

Photo：HR-Sinfonieorchester　/　Anna Meuer


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