Orchestre National de France begins new U.S. tour at Mechanics Hall

WORCESTER — Orchestre National de France is about to begin its first United States tour in nearly 10 years, and the first stop is on Nov. 7 in Mechanics Hall for a concert presented by Music Worcester.

The orchestra’s music director, Cristian Măcelaru, will conduct a scintillating-sounding all-French program including two works by composer Maurice Ravel to celebrate his 150th birthday this year. The guest piano soloist is Grammy Award-winner Daniil Trifonov.

Although the Romanian-born Măcelaru has had a career (and also won a Grammy Award) conducting several prestigious orchestras including in the U.S., the Nov. 7 concert will be his first in Mechanics Hall, which has a reputation as one of the world’s finest performance halls. “I’m very looking forward to it,” he said during a recent telephone interview.

‘An important tour’

The Paris-based Orchestre National de France’s new U.S. tour is relatively short — with other concerts scheduled for the Tilles Center in Greenvale, New York, on Nov. 8, and Carnegie Hall in New York City on Nov. 9 — but it is culturally significant on a number of levels, Măcelaru said.

“It’s an important tour. It is such an important part of our mission statement to be cultural ambassadors. So it is an important tour for us. It’s wonderful to share our music, also to share our French culture.”

Măcelaru has been the orchestra’s music director since 2020. He was previously said, “I was attracted to this orchestra by their understanding of what we call the ‘French sound.’ The composers of French heritage were able to create music that speaks through colors and gestures, surrounding us with this sound that is very beautiful and fleeting, and at the same time transparent and changing constantly.”

One of the permanent orchestras of Radio France, Orchestre National de France was founded in 1934 as the country’s first full-time symphony orchestra. Radio broadcasts of its concerts gave it a considerable reputation, while international tours have made it a flagship for French culture across the world. The orchestra has premiered a number of major French works. Măcelaru and the orchestra performed at the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was broadcast to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. But although it has continued to tour in Europe over the last 10 years, the orchestra’s most recent U.S. concert was in 2016.

COVID-19 and the increasingly daunting economics of touring were factors in the long gap between coming here, Măcelaru said. “To come to America is quite a big challenge.”

As many concert-goers know, there has been a drop off in tours by prestigious international orchestras. “European orchestras want to come to the United States. It’s the other way around as well,” Măcelaru noted. “It’s not easy to raise money.”

But in asking “‘why do we do it?’ (come to the U.S.) there are many more arguments for it than against it. It forces us to grow artistically, it builds a team spirit for the orchestra to be together, and reinforces the spirit of sharing the music,” he said.

Music as a force for good

The program for the Nov. 7 concert features Elsa Barraine’s Symphony No. 2, Camille Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, and Ravel’s Concerto in G and Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No. 2. Trifonov will be soloist on both of the program’s concertos.

Barraine (1910-99) lived through the Nazi occupation of Paris, where she organized concerts to support morale and promote resistance and believed in music as a force for good. Unfortunately, her music “kind of fell out of fashion,” but “I hope this will change,” Măcelaru said. Barraine’s Symphony No. 2 is how he discovered her music. The work is “very much in the evolving 20th century neoclassicism. It’s quite tonal, quite elegant. It does have a very beautiful slow movement.”

Orchestre National de France recently released a three-album set of Ravel’ symphonic works to celebrate the 150th birthday, and two of the composer’s finest compositions are featured on the tour program.

“We thought it would be important to show our significant music and French style,” Măcelaru said.

Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2. is the final part of a ballet with the lovers having a joyful reunion at sunrise to brilliant orchestration, rich textures, and evocative, shimmering sounds.

Concerto in G is a dazzling work with jazz and Basque influences, and Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is by degree earnest, playful and a whirlwind, allowing Trifonov plenty of opportunity to show his virtuosity.

Which is exactly what the Russian-born pianist has done so far in an outstanding career. Trifonov won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018 with his Liszt collection “Transcendental.” Named Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, he was made a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in 2021.

Măcelaru knows Trifonov well. They have worked together “many, many times. We are close friends. I conducted his debut the United States … he is truly one of the greatest artists alive today,” Măcelaru said.

‘Constantly working and traveling’

Măcelaru was born in Romania, the youngest of 10 children in a musical family. He excelled early on the violin, but his studies took him to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan where he fell in love with conducting. He has been a guest conductor for numerous orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra. 

In 2020, Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In September 2018, Măcelaru first guest-conducted Orchestre National de France and offiicially became its music director in September 2020. He also recently came on board as the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Such international musical chairs are part of the orchestral world.

“I’m constantly working and traveling with orchestras around the world. It’s what helps me artistically as well. We all grow through the connections we make,” Măcelaru said. Appropriately, Măcelaru was speaking on the phone while at an airport.

His contract with Orchestre National de France runs through the 2026-27 season. So he has another two years at the helm with the orchestra, and after that expects to continue to have regular contact and engagements.

“I’m not really going away.” he said.

Still, the Nov. 7 concert is an opportunity not to be missed, said Music Worcester executive director Adrien C. Finley. The performance “will serve as a truly unique opportunity to hear leading interpreters of French composers perform works showcasing the virtuosity of the full orchestra.”

The program will be Music Worcester’s annual Arthur M. & Martha R. Pappas Foundation Concert. Arthur Pappas, a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and educator, died in 2016.