On the proposal of Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, the President of the Republic decided to appoint Louis Langrée as director of the National Theatre of the Comique Opera for a 5-year term.
After studying at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, Louis Langrée began his career as a vocal conductor and assistant at the Opéra national de Lyon, then at the Orchestre de Paris. As a symphonic conductor, he has conducted the philharmonic orchestras of Berlin, Vienna, London, New York and Tokyo, and is invited by major opera houses such as the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden in London, the Paris Opera, the Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence festivals.
An ardent defender of the French lyric repertoire, notably at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he was regularly invited to the Opéra Comique.
Louis Langrée is now music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Lincoln Center in New York since 2003, and of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2013, two institutions where he invites many French artists.
For the direction of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique, Louis Langrée proposes a project focused on «the Favart spirit», mixing in his programming great works of the Opéra Comique repertoire and creations. Particular attention will be paid to the intersection of disciplines and artistic formats, with the idea of «pleiades» deploying a plural offer around the same work. The international influence of the institution will be developed through tours, partnerships and co-productions that will celebrate the Europe of Culture.
Louis Langrée also wants to emphasize the institution’s action in terms of transmission and training in the comic opera genre and French singing, in priority for young singers but also conductors, directors, the decorators, etc. It also proposes to open wide the doors of the National Theatre of the Comique Opera, thanks to the Popular Mastery, but also with participatory operas projects and operations dedicated to young audiences. Committed and citizen, the Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique will continue to carry out strong actions in terms of equality between women and men, diversity and the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.
Louis Langrée’s project was developed with the collaboration of Chrysoline Dupont, who is now the programming director of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, after having worked at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Opéra national de Paris, who will join the management team of the institution.
Louis Langrée will succeed Olivier Mantei, director of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique since 2015, who will take the 1ster next November the management of the Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris. The Minister of Culture praises the remarkable work done by Olivier Mantei at the head of the Opéra Comique, which made it possible to change the image of the institution and anchor it firmly in the 21th century.
This appointment will be confirmed in the Council of Ministers, subject to the opinion of the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life.