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Frédéric Chaslin

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Chaslin discussing Carmen at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 2016

Frédéric Chaslin (French: [ʃas.lɛ̃]; born 1963, in Paris) is a French conductor, composer and pianist.

Early life and education

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The son of an architect,[1] Chaslin studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, piano accompaniment, vocal direction, and orchestration. He later studied at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, where his mentors included Paul von Schilawsky.

Conductor

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In 1989, Chaslin became an assistant conductor to Daniel Barenboim at the Orchestre de Paris and at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1991, he held a similar post with Pierre Boulez at the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1989 to 1991. Boulez gave him his first concerts at an international level in Roma (July 1991) and at the Festival Wien Modern (19 October 1991). Chaslin was music director of the Opera de Rouen from 1991 to 1994.[2] He was chief conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) from 1999 to 2002, between the music directorships of David Shallon and Leon Botstein and again between 2011-2019. From 1999 to 2005, he was a resident conductor of the Vienna State Opera. He served as Generalmusikdirektor of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2005 to 2006.[3]

Chaslin first conducted in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2002.[4] In July 2009, he made his conducting debut at Santa Fe Opera (SFeO), in the first production of La traviata to feature Natalie Dessay as Violetta.[5] In May 2010, SFeO announced the appointment of Chaslin as the company's second chief conductor in its history, effective October 1, 2010, with an initial contract of three years.[6][7] He resigned his position with SFeO at the end of August 2012.[8]

After making his house debut in the 1996/1997 season, Frédéric Chaslin became a fixture at the Wiener Staatsoper, where within 20 years he conducted more than 200 performances.[9]

Frédéric Chaslin made his debut at the Semperoper Dresden in the 2016/2017 season with a new production of Les contes d'Hoffmann.[10]

Recent engagements as a conductor also include, among many symphony concerts all over the world, several opera productions at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Carmen, Aida) and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci) and at Opéra Royal de Wallonie (La Bohème, Mignon and Lakmé). He also led productions such as Werther at the Royal Opera House Muscat and in Bergen, Les contes d'Hoffmann in Copenhagen, Don Giovanni at the Chorégies d'Orange, Il barbiere di Siviglia in Savonlinna, Faust at the Teatro La Fenice, Carmen in Monte Carlo, Tosca at La Monnaie in Brussels, Die tote Stadt at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, La fille du régiment at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and a new production of La Gioconda at the Teatro alla Scala, where he leads a new staging of Les contes d'Hoffmann in 2023.[11] In 2023, Frédéric Chaslin also returned to Tokyo to conduct concert performances of Puccini's Tosca at the Tokyo Spring Festival with Krassimira Stoyanova and Sir Bryn Terfel.

Composer

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Chaslin's compositions include the Chagall Suite for orchestra, Diva Dance for the film The Fifth Element, songs and lieder, and several operas, including adaptations of Wuthering Heights (libretto by P.H. Fisher) and of S.P. Somtow's Vampire Junction.[12] He has also written a book on music, La Musique dans Tous les Sens (scheduled English title, Music in Every Sense), published in 2009.[1]

Chaslin also composed entire cycles based on poetry by Robert Frost. All three cycles have been performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra between 2012 and 2015,[13] and are available on YouTube for listening. Chaslin wrote a song cycle after Jean Cocteau for soprano, and has composed a musical based on The Count of Monte Cristo, commissioned by Plácido Domingo.[14] In January 2023, the album Rendez-vous was released on the Aparté label. It combines original music compositions by Frédéric Chaslin on poems by Boris Vian, Alain Duault and Jean Cocteau, with short stories written by Arièle Butaux and read by Pierre Arditi. Composed for a piano-voice-trumpet ensemble, Frédéric Chaslin's melodies (also on piano) are performed by soprano Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann and trumpet player Lucienne Renaudin Vary.[15]

He publishes his works through Scodo, the subscription-scheme of Austrian Music publishing house Universal Edition.

Author

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Chaslin's first novel, "Being Gustav Mahler", was released in 2017 by Fayard Publishing,.[16] Available on France-Empire is "La Musique Dans tous les Sens", released in 2009.[17]

Recordings

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Recordings include Diana Damrau singing his "Vocalise" from "Wuthering Heights" (Warner)[18] and an entire album for Sony Classical with Sonya Yoncheva, "Paris mon Amour".[19] Recently, Frédéric Chaslin has conducted the solo albums of Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Ludovic Tézier for Sony Classical as well as Benjamin Bernheim for Deutsche Grammophone. On Aparté, Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann's album "Chansons Pour Elle", the albums "Cellopera", opera arias arranged by Chaslin with Ophélie Gaillard playing the cello and "Rendez-vous" have been published.

Personal quote: "I'm happy being busy, as long as I'm busy being happy".[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b Baker, David J. (August 2010). "Agent Provocateur". Opera News. 75 (2). Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  2. ^ International Who's Who in Classical Music 2003. Europa Publications, p. 134 (2003) (ISBN 1 85743 174X).
  3. ^ "Frédéric Chaslin löst Vertrag in Mannheim". Deutsches Musikinformationzentrum. 2006-05-12. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  4. ^ Anne Midgette (2002-11-09). "Familiar Sets, Fresh Voices". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  5. ^ Craig Smith (2009-07-04). "'La Traviata' opens SFO season with power, passion". The New Mexican. Archived from the original on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  6. ^ "Frederic Chaslin Appointed Chief Conductor" (Press release). Santa Fe Opera. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  7. ^ Anne Constable (2010-05-04). "Composer, pianist to take over as opera conductor". The New Mexican. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  8. ^ James M Keller (2012-08-28). "Santa Fe Opera's chief conductor resigns". The New Mexican. Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2012-08-30.
  9. ^ "Vorstellungen mit Frédéric Chaslin | Spielplanarchiv der Wiener Staatsoper". archiv.wiener-staatsoper.at. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  10. ^ Dippel, Roland H. (2016-12-06). "Opern-Kritik: Semperoper Dresden – Hoffmanns Erzählungen - Hoffmanns Verführungen". concerti.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  11. ^ "Frédéric Chaslin, Conductor". Operabase. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  12. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (May 2003). "Quick-Change Artist". Opera News. 87 (11). Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  13. ^ Jennifer Holloway (2012-12-12). "Frédéric Chaslin, Song cycle after Robert Frost for Mzeeo-soprano". Soundcloud.com. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  14. ^ Irrgeher, Christoph (4 September 2019). "Porträt - Hoffmann, ein Mirakel". Bühne - Wiener Zeitung Online (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  15. ^ Tirapelle, Roberto (2023-01-04). "Nuovo CD-Rendez-vous: creazioni musicali di Frédéric Chaslin". Mediarte (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  16. ^ Being Gustav Mahler. Fayard Publishing. 18 January 2023. ASIN 2213705011.
  17. ^ La Musique Dans tous les Sens. France-Empire. 18 January 2023. ASIN 2704810656.
  18. ^ Norman Lebrecht (2013-09-30). "Diana Damrau sings Frederic Chaslin". Sinfinimusic.com. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
  19. ^ Norman Lebrecht (2015-01-30). "Sonya Yoncheva and Frederic Chaslin". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
  20. ^ Frédéric Chaslin (2010-03-01). "Frédéric Chaslin: I'm happy being busy, as long as I'm busy being happy (2014)". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
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Preceded by Generalmusikdirektor, Nationaltheater Mannheim
2005-2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Conductor, Santa Fe Opera
2010-2012 		Succeeded by
(post vacant)
Preceded by Music Director, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
2012-2019 		Succeeded by
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