Music Director and Chief Conductor: Prague Philharmonia

Music Director: Dallas Opera

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French-born conductor Emmanuel Villaume has led captivating performances with many prominent symphony orchestras and opera companies around the world.

 

Villaume is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia, a position he has held since 2015, and is in his 7th season as Music Director of The Dallas Opera. He had a highly successful five-year tenure as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Slovenian Philharmonic between 2008 and 2013, as well as with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra where he served as Chief Conductor from 2009 – 2016. He has also led a distinguished career conducting renowned orchestras in the USA and Canada, including the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Quebec Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras. In Europe he has conducted orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Danish National Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. In Australia Villaume has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland Symphony orchestras, and in Japan appeared with the NHK Symphony and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony orchestras.

 

Recent special projects with the Prague Philharmonia include Deutsche Grammophon recordings with Anna Netrebko and Benjamin Bernheim, Warner Classics releases with soprano Angela Gheorghiu, pianist Andrew von Oeyen, tenor Bryan Hymel, and a special New Year’s celebration concert at the Royal Opera House Muscat. Other projects include the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the White Nights Festival at the Mariinsky Theater

in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a European concert tour of Iolanta, including  performances at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Berlin Philharmonie and Barbican Centre in London, featuring soprano Anna Netrebko.

 

In the 2019/20 season at The Dallas Opera Emmanuel Villaume leads three productions: The Magic Flute, The Golden Cockerel, and Don Carlo. Following his critically acclaimed performances of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Thaïs, and David McVicar’s new production of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, Villaume returns to the Met in April 2020 for performances of La Bohème, a title he conducted in January 2020 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Villaume also makes his debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in July 2020 conducting Carmen.

 

A frequent collaborator with major opera houses in the United States, Villaume has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera: Tosca, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Thaïs, Roméo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, Samson et Dalila, and Carmen; Lyric Opera of Chicago for Faust, Roméo et Juliette, La Bohème, Manon, The Merry Widow, and Samson et Dalila; and the Washington National Opera for La Rondine, Norma, Le Cid, and Les Contes d’Hoffmann. He has conducted Madama Butterfly and Werther with the San Francisco Opera; Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La Rondine, and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein with the Los Angeles Opera; La Rondine and Faust with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and The Golden Cockerel, La Fanciulla del West, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein with Santa Fe Opera. At The Dallas Opera, Villaume has conducted highly acclaimed performances of Don Giovanni, Der Ring des Polykrates, Samson et Dalila, EugeneOnegin, Moby Dick, Norma, Faust, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and Iolanta.

 

On the international stage, Maestro Villaume has appeared with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Tosca, Manon, La Bohème, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and La Rondine; Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu for Manon Lescaut; Montreal Opera for La Vie Parisienne; Tokyo Nikikai Opera for Der Rosenkavalier; Teatro Colón for Pelléas et Mélisande; and Opéra de Paris for Rigoletto. Other performances in France include: Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse for Mignon; Opéra de Nice for Faust; and Opéra Marseilles for Pelléas et Mélisande, Samson et Dalila, Carmen, and Norma. Villaume has conducted opera companies in Germany including the Bayerische Staatsoper for Les Contes d’Hoffmann; Deutsche Oper Berlin for Tosca and Don Quichotte; Hamburg Staatsoper for Der Fliegende Holländer; Bonn Opera for La Fanciulla del West; and Oper Köln for La Bohème and Werther. Other lauded performances in Europe took place at Teatro La Fenice for Thaïs, Meyerbeer’s Il Crociato in Egitto, and L’Africaine; Teatro Regio di Torino for Ariane et Barbe-bleue and Les Contes d’Hoffmann; Martina Franca Opera for La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein; Teatro Real in Madrid for Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Werther; Opéra de Monte-Carlo for La Périchole and Werther; and the Klangbogen Festival in Vienna for Don Quichotte and Menotti’s Goya with Plácido Domingo. 

 

His participation in music festivals is equally exemplary, highlighted by numerous performances at the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA, where he served as Music Director from 2001 to 2010. 

 

Born in Strasbourg, Emmanuel Villaume studied music at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. He continued his education at Khâgne and the Sorbonne in Paris, where he received degrees in literature, philosophy, and musicology. As author of noted articles of musicology, Emmanuel Villaume was appointed Dramaturg of the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg at the age of 21. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Indianapolis. Maestro Villaume makes his home in Paris and Dallas.