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WORCESTER \u2014 Orchestre National de France <\/a>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<\/a>.<\/p>\n The orchestra’s music director, Cristian M\u0103celaru, <\/a>will conduct a scintillating-sounding all-French program including two works by composer Maurice Ravel <\/a>to celebrate his 150th birthday this year. The guest piano soloist is Grammy Award-winner Daniil Trifonov.<\/a><\/p>\n Although the Romanian-born \u00a0M\u0103celaru 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.<\/p>\n The Paris-based Orchestre National de France’s new U.S. tour is relatively short \u2014 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 \u2014 but it is culturally significant on a number of levels, M\u0103celaru said.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n M\u0103celaru 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.”<\/p>\n One of the permanent orchestras of Radio France, Orchestre National de France was founded in 1934 as the country\u2019s 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. \u00a0The orchestra has premiered a number of major French works. M\u0103celaru and the orchestra performed at the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was broadcast to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide.\u00a0\u00a0But although it has continued to tour in Europe over the last 10 years, the orchestra’s most recent U.S. concert was in 2016.<\/p>\n COVID-19 and the increasingly daunting economics of touring were factors in the long gap between coming here, M\u0103celaru said. “To come to America is quite a big challenge.”<\/p>\n 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,” M\u0103celaru noted. “It’s not easy to raise money.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The program for the Nov. 7 concert features Elsa Barraine\u2019s\u00a0Symphony No. 2, Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, and Ravel’s Concerto in G\u00a0and\u00a0Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No. 2. Trifonov will be soloist on both of the program\u2019s concertos.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barraine<\/a> (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,” M\u0103celaru 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “We thought it would be important to show our significant music and French style,” M\u0103celaru said.<\/p>\n Ravel’s Daphnis et Chlo\u00e9, Suite No. 2.\u00a0<\/em>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. \u00a0<\/p>\n Concerto in G\u00a0is a dazzling work with jazz and Basque influences, and Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019s\u00a0Piano Concerto No. 2 is by degree earnest, playful and a whirlwind, allowing Trifonov plenty of opportunity to show his virtuosity.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0“Transcendental.”\u00a0 Named\u00a0Gramophone\u2019s 2016 Artist of the Year and\u00a0Musical America\u2019s 2019 Artist of the Year, he was made a \u201cChevalier de l\u2019Ordre des Arts et des Lettres\u201d by the French government in 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n M\u0103celaru 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,” M\u0103celaru said.<\/p>\n M\u0103celaru 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.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2020, M\u0103celaru received a Grammy Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis\u2019s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra.<\/p>\n In September 2018, M\u0103celaru 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.<\/p>\n Such international musical chairs are part of the orchestral world.<\/p>\n “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,” M\u0103celaru said. Appropriately, M\u0103celaru was speaking on the phone while at an airport.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “I’m not really going away.” he said.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n \u00a0The program will be Music Worcester’s annual Arthur M. & Martha R. Pappas Foundation Concert.\u00a0Arthur Pappas,<\/a>\u00a0a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and educator,\u00a0died in 2016.<\/p>\n‘An important tour’<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Music as a force for good<\/strong><\/h2>\n
‘Constantly working and traveling’<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Orchestra National de France \u2014 presented by Music Worcester. The Annual Arthur M. & Martha R. Pappas Foundation Concert<\/strong><\/h2>\n