The French conductor Maxime Pascal has within a short space of time established himself as one of the most outstanding interpreters of both 20th-century and contemporary music. During his studies at the Paris Conservatoire, he was already investigating a vast repertory, from Classical works to pieces by composers from the second half of the 20th century such as Morton Feldman, Gérard Grisey and Pierre Boulez.
In 2008 he founded the ensemble Le Balcon. This innovative collective, named after the play by Jean Genet, is one of the central players on the contemporary music scene, and devotes itself to ambitious projects such as Karlheinz Stockhausen’s monumental cycle Licht. Maxime Pascal considers this project his life’s work, and is planning a performance of the complete cycle to celebrate the 100th birthday of its composer in 2028.
Conducting engagements in the 2025/26 season have included Ariadne auf Naxos at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, La Damnation de Faust at the Nikikai Opera in Tokyo and Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala, Milan.
He has also conducted performances at La Scala of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo in 2017 (with revivals at the Berlin State Opera) and of Luca Francesconi’s Quartett in 2019. In 2023 he conducted Le Balcon in performances of Die Dreigroschenoper at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Comédie-Française. In the same year he also conducted a new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Theater an der Wien.
In 2014 he won the Young Conductors Award at the Salzburg Festival. He has returned regularly since then, including in 2023 for Bohuslav Martinů’s The Greek Passion (awarded ’Best Production’ at the Oper! Awards in 2024) and in 2025 for Peter Eötvös’s Tri Sestri (Three Sisters).
Since the 2023/24 season Maxime Pascal has also been music director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, which during the 2025/26 season he has conducted in concerts featuring repertory by Berlioz, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Strauss, Kaija Saariaho and Joe Hisaishi.
He has also conducted concerts with the Hallé Orchestra, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, making his debut with the latter in 2025 in a concert that celebrated Pierre Boulez’s centenary.
