Among the most sought-after conductors of his generation, Philippe Auguin enjoys great success in both the operatic and symphonic fields, regularly collaborating with leading opera houses and orchestras throughout the world. Beginning in the 2010-2011 season, he will serve as music director of Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

Mr. Auguin frequently conducts at renowned opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera (Doktor Faust, Frau ohne Schatten, La Bohème, Lohengrin, Tosca), LA Opera (Faust), Opera Australia (Tannhäuser, Capriccio), Le Grand Théâtre de Genève (Der Rosenkavalier), the New Tokyo Opera (Tannhäuser), and the state opera houses of Cologne (Otello, Der Rosenkavalier, Le Roi Arthus), Stuttgart (La Clemenza di Tito, Ariadne auf Naxos, Elektra), Dresden (Der Fliegende Holländer) and Royal Opera Copenhagen (Don Carlo).   In 2005, he brought the Nuremberg production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle to the International Beijing Music Festival, marking the first-ever performances of the complete Ring in China. He returned to the Beijing Music Festival in 2008, conducting Tannhäuser with the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin.

As a symphonic conductor, Philippe Auguin celebrated highly acclaimed debuts conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps at the Royal Festival Hall; performing Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 with the Vienna Symphony; and Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben with the Munich Philharmonic. Mr. Auguin continues to work with other leading orchestras, such as Berlin Deutsche Staatsoper, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Czech Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra (Seoul), Tokyo Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, among many others.

Mr. Auguin’s extremely broad symphonic repertoire spans the canon, reaching from early music to the emblematic works of Bruckner, Strauss, Stravinsky and Bartok, and the complete symphonic works of Gustav Mahler. Also known for his work with contemporary composers, Mr. Auguin has recently conducted works by Hans-Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies, Aribert Reimann, Peter Ruzicka, and Pierre Boulez.

Mr. Auguin regularly appears on the podium at prestigious festivals, including the Ravenna Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Kissinger Musiksommer, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Hong Kong Festival, and the Sydney Olympic Festival in 2000. For the Mozart-year in 1991, he conducted the opening Mozart matinee at the Salzburg Festival and in 1996, he returned to the Salzburg Festival to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. In 2002, he also conducted the Vienna Philharmonic at the Zaragoza Festival for a concert performance of Strauss’ Salome.

In recent seasons, Mr. Auguin has appeared at the Met (Tosca), the Vienna State Opera (Die Tote Stadt, La Forza del Destino), Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin (Tannhäuser), Opera Australia (La Traviata), Teatro Massimo di Palermo (Simon Boccanegra, Die Gezeichneten), Savonlinna Opera Festival (Mefistofele), Teatro Colón Buenos Aires (Manon) and Opéra de Nice (Parsifal).

As the new music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Mr. Auguin has immediately undertaken programming of the finest works, including Stravinsky’s Firebird, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Bartók's Opus 12.

In November 2009, Mr. Auguin made an explosive debut with Washington National Opera leading concert performances of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. His phenomenal success prompted Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra to appoint Maestro Auguin to the jointly held position of music director, a role he assumed in October 2010 with a new production of Salome.

Born in France in 1961, Philippe Auguin studied in Vienna and Florence and was influenced by two impressive personalities—he was assistant conductor of Herbert von Karajan before working closely with Sir Georg Solti. He was awarded the Cross of Federal Merit of the German Republic in 2005 and was made the Honorary Consul of the French Republic in 2002.

Oct. 2010