About Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin
French maestro Philippe Auguin is the Music Director of WNO and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. In the 2012-2013 season he conducts Don Giovanni and Manon Lescaut for WNO. In the 2011-2012 season he conducted WNO’s productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Così fan tutte, and Nabucco. He has given highly acclaimed interpretations of the most important masterworks of the repertoire in the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Teatro Colón, Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and Royal Danish Opera, among others. As a symphonic conductor, he has led highly acclaimed performances with the Vienna Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra (Seoul), Orchestre national de France, Saxon State Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, and many others. He has regularly appeared on the podium at festivals including the Salzburg Festival, Ravenna Festival, the Hong Kong Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Savonlinna Opera Festival, and others. He conducted the memorial concert for Sir Georg Solti in Westminster Abbey in 1998. Among other numerous prestigious international events, he conducted the opening night of the Olympic Festival 2000 at the Sydney Opera; he brought the first complete performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle to China at the International Beijing Music Festival in 2005; and he conducted the Jubilee Gala of the New Tokyo Opera in 2008. He was made the Honorary Consul of the French Republic in 2002 and was awarded of the Cross of Federal Merit of the German Republic in 2005. His schedule for the 2013-2014 season beyond WNO includes performances at the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera and concert tours to Monte Carlo and Moscow.
March 2013
