CristianMăcelaru

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  • Conductor
©Ben Knabe
©Ben Knabe

About Cristian

Music Director, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director, Orchestre National de France Artistic Director, George Enescu International Festival and Competition Music Director, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Center for the Arts Artistic Partner, WDR Sinfonieorchester

Cristian Măcelaru’s 2025/26 season highlights include debuts with the Münchner Philharmoniker and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as return engagements with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Philharmonia Orchestras. He has also worked with the Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Wiener Symphoniker and London Philharmonic.

In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestras.

His latest recording is of Enescu Symphonies with the Orchestre National de France on Deutsche Grammophon. September 2025 marks the release of the Orchestre National de France’s Ravel Paris 2025 album on the naïve label, featuring the symphonic works of Maurice Ravel in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Cristian is based in Paris and Cologne

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Alison Nethsingha

Alison Nethsingha

Senior Artist Manager

For contracts, logistics and press:

Hannah Reid Dick

Hannah Reid Dick

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

General Management: Askonas Holt
North and South America: Primo Artists

Season Highlights

Oct 2024
Concert Hall, Oslo
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater Prokofiev: Symphony No 5 Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Sally Matthews (soprano) Ingeborg Gillebo (mezzo) Jóhann Kristinsson (bartione)
Nov 2024
Radio France Auditorium, Paris
Jeanne Demessieux: Poème for organ and orchestra Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto Stravinsky: Firebird (1919) Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Orchestre National de France Lucile Dollat (organ) Beatrice Rana (piano)
Dec 2024
Musikverein Vienna
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No 1 in A major, Op 11/1 Tcaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 in D major Op. 60 Vienna Symphony Orchestra Augustin Hadelich (violin)
Jan 2025
Gewandhaus, Leipzig
Liszt: Orpheus, Symphonic Poem for Orchestra Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4 Liszt: Piano Sonata (orchestrated by Leo Weiner) Liszt: Prometheus, Symphonic Poem for Orchestra Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Rudolf Buchbinder (piano)
Mar 2025
Bewaldhallen, Stockholm
Elsa Barraine: Symphony No 2 Gershwin: Piano Concerto Ravel: Daphnis & Chloe complete Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Rudolf Buchbinder (piano)
Apr 2025
Berlin Philharmonie
Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté: Passacaglia and Fugue for large orchestra Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 2 Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major Op. 90 Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Isabelle Faust (violin)
May 2025
Tonhalle, Zurich
Brahms: Violin Concerto Bartok: The Wooden Prince Tonhalle Orchestra Augustin Hadelich (violin)
Jun 2025
Philharmonie, Cologne
Brahms: Violin Concerto Shostakovich: Symphony No 10 WDR Symphony Orchestra Hilary Hahn (violin)

News

Press

  • Măcelaru conducts Brahms with Simon Trpceski and WDR Sinfonieorchester

    Linn Records
    Nov 2023
    • "Here under Măcelaru we’re offered a perfectly judged opening, powerful in tone, with brass backed by timps, railing strings, the sombre-sounding second subject illuminated from the inside."

  • Măcelaru conducts Berg's Violin Concert with Orchestre National de France

    Paris
    Nov 2023
    • The truth is that Măcelaru knew how to conduct the French National Orchestra with the chamber music that Berg's score requires. And also pamper, envelop without overwhelming, the soloist.

  • Cristian Măcelaru performs with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo

    Auditorium Rainier III de Monte Carlo
    Jan 2022
    • Sa venue en Principauté n’est pas passée inaperçue. Il a transcendé l’orchestre. His arrival in the Principality did not go unnoticed. He transcended the orchestra. En effet, l’interprétation que nous a donnée de cette symphonie Cristian Măcelaru nous a procuré un total bonheur. Il nous a entraînés avec jubilation dans les tours et détours de cette symphonie pleine de surprises, aux élans sans cesse renouvelés – cette œuvre qui a des allures de conte et donne l’impression de nous raconter une succession de belles histoires. Cristian Măcelaru a ménagé maints suspens, a coloré l’œuvre de mille nuances, a suscité des pianissimos infimes et des fortissimos tonitruants dans lesquels l’orchestre avait une parfaite cohésion. Cristian Măcelaru's interpretation of this symphony gave us total happiness. He took us with glee through the twists and turns of this symphony full of surprises, with its constantly renewed impulses - this work that has the appearance of a tale and gives the impression of telling us a succession of beautiful stories. Cristian Măcelaru created many suspenseful moments, coloured the work with a thousand shades of colour, and produced minute pianissimos and thunderous fortissimos in which the orchestra was perfectly cohesive.

    • La direction tendue et énergique de Cristian Măcelaru, frénétique par moments, est excellente. Cristian Măcelaru's taut and energetic conducting, frenetic at times, is excellent. Cristian Măcelaru fait danser l'orchestre et tous les instruments sont mis en valeur. Cristian Măcelaru makes the orchestra dance, and all the instruments are highlighted.

  • Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies with Orchestre National de France (CD release)

    Nov 2021
    • ...soulignons l’extraordinaire subtilité de la direction de Măcelaru, son sens des nuances, la souplesse des articulations, la justesse des tempos. Sous cette baguette frémissante, le National semble avoir retrouvé un nouveau souffle et une nouvelle précision. ...let us emphasize the extraordinary subtlety of Măcelaru's direction, his sense of nuances, the flexibility of the articulations, the accuracy of the tempos. Under this quivering baton, the National seems to have found a new breath and a new precision.