Alongside his work with professional ensembles, Laurent Pillot has developed a passion for working in opera with talented young singers and instrumentalists. His work in Munich, where he founded the Opera Studio at the Bavarian State Opera, was the subject of a three-part documentary for German television.
He has been associated with the European Opera Centre for more than a decade and has conducted the Centre’s singers and European Union Youth Orchestra for celebrations of Europe Day in London, repeated at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
In Wales this time, Laurent Pillot is giving a programme of opera arias on May 4, with the young singers of the National Opera Studio and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, the result of work sessions that began last March.
Former associate Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera, where he worked alongside Kent Nagano and Plácido Domingo, he continues to promote understanding of the symphonic and lyric repertoire to the widest possible audience with the Rhône-Alpes Auvergne Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been Music Director since 1986.
His recent recording of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (released in November 2018) on Rubicon classics, based on the musicological discoveries of Professor Ian Woodfield, recreates Mozart's first intentions for the first time; here are some reviews:
Gramophone - January 2019 - Tim Ashley
«The performance itself is excellent. Laurent Pillot conducts with superb energy and grace [...] Anyone who cares about Così should hear this.»
The Guardian - Dezember 2018 - Erica Jeal
«Laurent Pillot draws a lively performance from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.»
Opera Now - February 2019 - Francis Muzzu
«an interesting supplement to a collection … it offers accomplished and youthful performances from its cast, and enjoyably propulsive conducting from Laurent Pillot”»
Concert with the Welsh National Opera and the National Opera Studio
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Wales
