Raphaël Pichon
Conductor

Source: lagence-management.com
Raphaël Pichon, born in 1984, began his musical training with violin, piano, and singing at various conservatories in Paris (CNSMDP & CRR). As a young professional singer, he performed under the direction of renowned figures such as Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, and with Les Cris de Paris under Geoffroy Jourdain, with whom he explored contemporary music.
In 2006, he founded Pygmalion, a choir and orchestra ensemble that performs on period instruments and quickly gained recognition for its unique projects. The Missae Breves by Bach, the late versions of the great lyric tragedies by Rameau, and the rediscovery of rare Mozart works are just a few of the programs that define Pygmalion. Through its focus on blending choir and orchestra, as well as a dramaturgical approach to concert performance, Pygmalion‘s productions were swiftly praised both in France and internationally. Together with his ensemble, Raphaël Pichon has performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Château de Versailles, the BBC Proms, Bozar Brussels, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the French May in Hong Kong, and the Beijing Music Festival.
On the opera stage, Pichon has conducted productions at the Opéra-Comique, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Opéra Amsterdam, and the Opéra National de Bordeaux. He has collaborated with directors such as Katie Mitchell, Romeo Castellucci, Simon McBurney, Michel Fau, Pierre Audi, Jeanne Candel, Jochen Sandig, Cyril Teste, Aurélien Bory, Satoshi Miyagi, Laurent Pelly, and Jetske Mijnssen.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Pichon created Pulsations in Bordeaux, a versatile and eclectic festival that works with local actors and presents exceptional concerts in unexpected venues throughout the city and metropolitan area.
Some of his most notable projects in recent years include his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival with the premiere of Trauernacht (Bach works, directed by Katie Mitchell, 2014), the rediscovery of Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo at the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Opéra Royal de Versailles (2016), the spatialization of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with Pierre Audi (Holland Festival, BBC Proms, Chapelle royale de Versailles, Leipzig Bach Festival), a series of artistic encounters around Bach cantatas at the Philharmonie de Paris, and staged performances of Brahms’ German Requiem under Jochen Sandig at the massive submarine base in Bordeaux. After his acclaimed debut with Mozart’s The Magic Flute (directed by Simon McBurney, 2018), he returned in 2019 for the staged premiere of Mozart’s Requiem (directed by Romeo Castellucci) and in 2022 for Idomeneo (directed by Satoshi Miyagi) at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
In the 2022–2023 season, Pichon conducted Pygmalion for new stage productions of Léo Delibes’ Lakmé at the Opéra-Comique and Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea at the Opéra National du Rhin. He also continued his exploration of Romantic music with Mein Traum, a program combining works by Schubert, Weber, and Schumann (with Stéphane Degout), as well as Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 (Lobgesang).
As a guest conductor, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2018 with the Mozarteum Orchestra, at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, and has since conducted the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Scintilla of the Zürich Opera, MusicAeterna under Teodor Currentzis, the Violons du Roy in Quebec, the Freiburger Barockorchester, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra alongside Isabelle Faust. In 2021, he made his debut in Boston with the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra, which he returned to in 2022 for The Marriage of Figaro. In 2023, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival with the same opera. In 2024, he will conduct the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
His numerous recordings are released by harmonia mundi. Among the latest releases are: the opera fantasy Enfers with baritone Stéphane Degout (2018), Libertà! featuring lesser-known Mozart masterpieces, the Motets (2020) and St. Matthew Passion (2022) by Bach, Mein Traum (Schubert, Schumann, Weber) (2022), Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine (2023), and Mozart’s Requiem (2024). His entire discography has been unanimously acclaimed both in France and internationally.
Raphaël Pichon is an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Photos and Videos





