PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR
Ralph and Beth Johnston Muller Chair
Nathalie Stutzmann began her role as The Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal guest conductor with the 2021–22 season. The three-year contract will involve a regular presence in the Orchestra’s subscription series in Philadelphia and at its summer festivals in Vail, Colorado, and Saratoga Springs, New York. She made her Philadelphia Orchestra conducting debut in 2016. She is also music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, only the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra.
Ms. Stutzmann made her spectacular debut at the 2023 Bayreuth Festival with Wagner’s Tannhäuser, BR Klassik observed having “never experienced such a standing ovation at a pit debut in Bayreuth,” with Oper Magazin describing her as a true possessor of “the Bayreuth gene.” The same performances resulted in her being named “best conductor” in the 2024 Oper! Awards. The 2022–23 season also saw her acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera with productions of both Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni; the New York Times declaring it “the coup of the year.”
During the 2023–24 season, Ms. Stutzmann leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 12 programs spanning some of her favorite core repertoire from Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and Ravel through to the large symphonic forces of Mahler, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky, along with a Bruckner festival marking the composer’s 200th anniversary and a West Coast tour. With The Philadelphia Orchestra she returns to New York for her much-anticipated Carnegie Hall debut.
As a guest conductor, Ms. Stutzmann makes her debut with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and returns to the London Symphony Orchestra for Bruckner’s Te Deum and his Seventh and Ninth symphonies. She conducts Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro Regio Torino and returns to Bayreuth in summer 2024. Throughout the season she will have a strong presence at the Philharmonie Paris, where she will appear with the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre de Capitole de Toulouse; she also chaired the jury for the La Maestra Conducting Competition.
Ms. Stutzmann was awarded the 2023 Opus Klassik “Concerto Recording of the Year” for her recording of the Glière and Mosolov harp concertos with Xavier de Maistre and the WDR Sinfonieorchester on Sony. Her recording of the complete Beethoven piano concertos with Haochen Zhang and The Philadelphia Orchestra for the BIS label was released in 2022. Gramophone praised it as a “a brilliant collaboration that I urge you to not miss” and Classics Today called it a “modern reference version.” Ms. Stutzmann is an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics/Erato.
Ms. Stutzmann began her studies in piano, bassoon, and cello at a very young age, and she studied conducting with the legendary Finnish teacher Jorma Panula.
As one of today’s most esteemed contraltos, Ms. Stutzmann has made more than 80 recordings and received the most prestigious awards. Recognized for her significant contribution to the arts, she was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor, and a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
Photo by Jeff Fusco