Bertrand de Billy

The French-Swiss conductor Bertrand de Billy is one of the most important artists both on the opera stage and on the concert platform and is a regular guest at the Vienna State Opera, where he can be seen this year in the revival of Les Dialogues des carmelites following the new production he successfully conducted, as well as in Tosca, Guillaume Tell, Don Giovanni and Faust. He also returns to the Staatsoper unter den Linden with Macbeth and returns to the Opera de Paris with a new production of La Vestale , directed by Lydia Steier. At the Salzburg Festival, he conducts the concert performances of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet in summer 2024. On the concert platform, he conducts the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre Chambre de Lausanne and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo in 23/24.
In previous seasons, Bertrand de Billy conducted Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, Manon, Dialogue des Carmélites, Otello, Faust, Die Fledermaus and Der fliegende Holländer at the Vienna State Opera, Dialogues des Carmélites at the Metropolitan Opera, Carmen at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin and Don Carlos at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Der fliegende Holländer at the Bavarian State Opera, Don Giovanni at the Opera de Paris and at the San Francisco Opera.
Early engagements have taken him to the State Operas in Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra National de Paris and the opera houses in Washington and Los Angeles. He was a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1997 and at the Salzburg Festival from 2002. He has also performed worldwide with leading orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and others: Museum Orchestra Frankfurt, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, RSB Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Copenhagen Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Suisse Romande, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and many more. and many more.
De Billy conducts a broad repertoire ranging from Bach to numerous premieres and first performances. Today, he works just as closely with the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Vienna Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus as he does with the Bavarian State Opera.
De Billy was born in Paris, received his training in his home city and first appeared here as an orchestral musician, but very soon also as a conductor. From 1993-95, he was first conductor and deputy GMD at the Anhalt Theatre in Dessau, and held the same position at the Vienna Volksoper from 1996-98. From 1999-2004 he was chief conductor of the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, from 2002-2010 chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 2013 to 2015 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Frankfurt Opera and the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra and from 2013 to 2016 Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and from 2014 to 2018 Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra.
Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his artistic work. Bertrand de Billy has received several high honours in France and Austria.