Jury

The 11th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors​

Patrick Fournillier

Patrick Fournillier

Acclaimed for his renditions of Italian and French operas, Patrick Fournillier’s career has taken him to some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Zurich Opera, La Fenice Venice, and the Semperoper Dresden. Currently, he holds the position of Music Director at the Polish National Opera, Teatr Wielki.

Fournillier’s career highlights include Teatro alla Scala for Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac with Plácido Domingo, the Metropolitan Opera for The Tales of Hoffmann, Dresden Staatsoper for Don Giovanni and The Damnation of Faust, Zürich Opera for Faust, Berlin Staatsoper for Don Carlo, Münich Staatsoper for Werther, Chicago for Werther and Lucia di Lammermoor, Washington for The Marriage of Figaro and Hamlet, Stockholm for Samson & Dalila, Valencia for Manon, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Thaïs with Plácido Domingo, Paris-Châtelet for Cyrano de Bergerac, Stuttgart for Lucia di Lammermoor and Carmen, Regio di Torino for Rigoletto and La Traviata, Strasbourg for Hamlet, Warsaw for La Traviata, Carmen, Pelléas & Mélisande, Rigoletto, Tosca, Turandot, Oman inauguration of Royal Opera House of Muscat for Carmen, Nice Opera for Manon, the Ravenna Festival for Verdi’s La Traviata, Antwerp for Turandot, Sydney Opera for Werther, San Francisco Opera for Manon, Helsinki Opera for Il Trovatore, Tosca, and The Tales of Hoffmann, Beijing NCPA and Madrid for Thaïs with Plàcido Domingo and Seattle for La voix humaine and Suor Angelica. Fournillier has also been the Principal Guest Conductor of the National Opera of Finland since September 2017, and the founder and Music Director of the Festival Massenet of Saint-Étienne, the birthplace of Massenet.

As a symphonic conductor, Fournillier has conducted many of the world’s most famous orchestras in London, Oslo, Milano, Zürich, Prague, Amsterdam, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, Washington, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Moscow, and St Petersburg.   He is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano and has previously served as Music Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma for six years, linking his name to the Verdi celebrations in 2001. He is also a recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque for his recording of French opera arias with Natalie Dessay and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte Carlo.