Charles Dutoit

Charles Dutoit
Background information
Birth name	Charles Édouard Dutoit
Born	7 October 1936 (1936-10-07) (age 75) Lausanne, Switzerland
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Conductor, pedagogue
Associated acts	Gothenburg Symphony Montreal Symphony NHK Symphony Orchestre National de France Philadelphia Orchestra Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Charles Édouard Dutoit, (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl e.dwaːʁ dy.twa]) OC, GOQ (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music. He has made influential modern recordings of Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette and Maurice Ravel's ballets Daphnis et Chloé and Ma mère l'oye.

Biography

Dutoit was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, studied there and graduated from the Geneva Conservatory where he won first prize in conducting, then he went to the Music Academy in Siena by the invitation of Alceo Galliera. In his younger days, he frequently attended Ernest Ansermet's rehearsals and had a personal acquaintance with him. He also worked with Herbert von Karajan at Lucerne as a member of the festival youth orchestra and studied with Charles Munch at Tanglewood. Dutoit began his professional music career in 1957 as a viola player with various orchestras across Europe and South America. In January 1959, he made his debut as a professional conductor with an orchestra of Radio Lausanne and Martha Argerich. From 1959 he was a guest conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. After this, he was the conductor for Radio Zurich until 1967, when he took over the Bern Symphony Orchestra from Paul Kletzki, where he stayed for eleven years.

While head of the Bern Symphony, he also conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico from 1973 to 1975, and Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony from 1975 to 1978. Dutoit was principal guest conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra in the early 1980s.

In 1977, Dutoit became the Artistic Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM). During his tenure, the recording profile and reputation of the OSM increased.^[1][2] He has earned more than 40 international awards and distinctions, including two Grammy Awards (USA), several Juno Awards (Canada), the Grand Prix du Président de la République (France), the Prix mondial du disque de Montreux (Switzerland), the Amsterdam Edison Award, the Japan Record Academy Award, and the German Music Critics' Award. He and the OSM made many recordings for the Decca/London label. Dutoit resigned from the Montreal Symphony in April 2002 after a bitter dispute with the musicians' union.^[3]

1984

Dutoit first conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980. From 1990 to 1999, he was music director of the orchestra's summer concerts at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Since 1990, he has been the artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, a post he will relinquish in August 2010. In 1991, he was made an Honorary Citizen of the city of Philadelphia.

Since 1990, Dutoit has directed the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. From 1991 to 2001, Dutoit was Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, with whom he made a number of critically lauded recordings and toured extensively. In 1996, he was appointed principal conductor of Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is also one of a handful of non-Canadian citizens to be a Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec.

In February 2007, he was named chief conductor and artistic adviser of The Philadelphia Orchestra, for a contract of four years, effective September 2008.^[4] In April 2007, Dutoit was named principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as of 2009.^[5] Since July 2009 Dutoit has also served as the music director of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.^[6]

Personal life

Dutoit shuns publicity and protects his private life from the media. He has been married four times, including a marriage to the world-renowned concert pianist Martha Argerich, to the economist Marie-Josée Drouin, and to Canadian violinist Chantal Juillet.^[7] His first marriage was to Ruth Cury, by whom he has a son, Ivan, who lives in Santa Monica, California with his family. He also has a daughter, Anne-Catherine, by his marriage to Argerich.

References

1. ^ Anthony Tommasini (2002-04-28). "Is Tyranny A Thing Of the Past?". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/28/arts/theater-is-tyranny-a-thing-of-the-past.html. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 
2. ^ "Dutoit has managed the extraordinary feat of making it the leading orchestra in the French-speaking world."

   "Charles Dutoit", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, ed. Stanley Sadie. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2001.

3. ^ Krauss, Clifford (2002-04-18), "Dissonance in Montreal After Rare Orchestral Uprising", The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/arts/music/18ORCH.html?pagewanted=all, retrieved 2009-06-17 ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Dobrin, Peter (2007-03-03), "Positivity on the podium", The Philadelphia Inquirer: D01, ISSN 0362-4331 
5. ^ Martin Cullingford, "Charles Dutoit takes over Royal Philharmonic Orchestra". Gramophone, 20 April 2007.
6. ^ "Music Directors". Verbier Festival. http://www.verbierfestival.com/index.php?page=music_director_en. Retrieved December 7, 2009. 
7. ^ Kaptainis, Arthur (2010-02-11), "Charles Dutoit marries Montreal-born violinist Chantal Juillet", The Montreal Gazette, http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Dutoit+marries+Montreal+born+violinist/2550656/story.html ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Charles Dutoit at Allmusic
• Charles Dutoit biography at EMI Classics
• Charles Dutoit interview by Bruce Duffie
• Journal d'une création – Film directed by James Dormeyer with Chantal Juillet, Charles Dutoit and André Prévost

Preceded by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos	Artistic Director, Montreal Symphony Orchestra 1977–2002	Succeeded by Kent Nagano
Preceded by Alexander Rumpf	Principal Conductor and Music Director, NHK Symphony Orchestra 1996–1998 (principal conductor), 1998–2003 (music director)	Succeeded by Vladimir Ashkenazy
Preceded by Christoph Eschenbach (music director)	Chief Conductor, Philadelphia Orchestra 2008–present	Succeeded by incumbent