A New Talent

Following auditions held in July, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is delighted to announce that Maxime Tortelier, a post graduate from the Royal Academy of Music, has been appointed its Young Conductor in Association, a one year appointment that will see him work closely with the Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits. 

Four candidates at the beginning of their professional conducting careers went through a rigorous audition procedure on Tuesday 4 July, each conducting the full BSO in several pieces before a secret ballot identified two finalists. A second round of performances ensued, with the remaining candidates also asked to address an invited audience, before a second ballot identified Tortelier as the successful candidate.

Tortelier will now conduct several concerts across the region as part of the BSO’s forthcoming season, the first a programme of Wagner, Mozart, Elgar and Mendelssohn in September, in Andover, Honiton and Chippenham.  Throughout the year he will have the opportunity to work with the BSO’s many guest conductors and the world-class artists performing with the Orchestra, using the opportunity to gain wide-ranging experience on the concert platform.

 Born into a musical family, (he is the son of conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, under whom the BSO has played many times) Maxime studied the piano from the age of five. Before devoting himself to conducting, he majored in literature and languages at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and was Teaching Assistant at Harvard. He also taught musicology in Paris at the Postgraduate School of Social Science after completing his MPhil there, and studied theory and composition at the Paris Conservatoire where he received several first prizes.

Please see here for videos of Maxime in action!