Bertrand de Billy

The French-Swiss conductor Bertrand de Billy enjoys the highest reputation in both opera and concert repertory. In the 2024/25 season he will conduct revivals of Roméo et Juliette, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Die Fledermaus and Werther at the Vienna State Opera; return to the Berlin State Opera for Nabucco; and conduct the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Bamberg Symphony, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in concert.

In recent seasons Bertrand de Billy’s engagements have included acclaimed new productions of La Vestale at the Paris Opéra and Dialogues des Carmélites and Faust at the Vienna State Opera. From early in his career, he has worked with renowned orchestras and at leading opera houses, among them the State Operas of Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Paris Opéra, the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. He has appeared regularly at the Metropolitan Opera since 1997 and at the Salzburg Festival since 2002.

Orchestras that Bertrand de Billy has conducted include the Cleveland Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and many more.

His wide-ranging repertory extends from Bach to numerous world premieres. He collaborates closely with the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus and the Bavarian State Opera.

Bertrand de Billy trained in his home city of Paris and initially worked as an orchestral musician, shortly afterwards becoming a conductor. From 1993 to 1995 he was First Kapellmeister and deputy general music director at the Anhalt Theatre in Dessau, and from 1996 to 1998 he held the same position at the Vienna Volksoper. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and from 2002 to 2010 he was chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Bertrand de Billy has received several prestigious awards in France and Austria. His artistic career is documented on numerous CD and DVD recordings.