The title is initially effective until the conclusion of the 2027/28 season, and will see Langrée return to Cincinnati for select concerts each year
Conductor Louis Langrée has been given the title of Music Director Laureate by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), following the 2021 announcement that the 2023/24 season would be his last as the CSO’s Music Director.
Langrée, who took the helm at the CSO in 2013, swiftly built a reputation for ambitious programming. Highlights of his tenure there included a Pelléas Trilogy, as well as a reproduction of the Beethoven “Akademie” concert of 1808 — which included the composer’s fifth and sixth symphonies, fourth piano concerto, the Choral Fantasy Op. 80, and excerpts from the Mass in C major, among others.
He also commissioned a total of 65 new works over the course of his tenure, and received two GRAMMY Award nominations for his recording work.
Langrée previously served as music director of the Orchestre de Picardie, Opéra National de Lyon, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, as well as chief conductor of the Camerata Salzburg. Langrée was also closely associated with the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, having been its Music Director between 1998 and 2023.
“I am deeply honored to be appointed Music Director Laureate of the CSO,” Langrée said. “This orchestra has been such an important part of my life over the last decade.”
“I am grateful to the CSO musicians, administration, Board of Directors, and our musical community for their enthusiastic and unwavering support of this orchestra during my tenure,” he continued. “I am delighted to continue our relationship into the future, and I look forward to joyous reunions with the CSO family in this new relationship.”
“The CSO has been the fortunate beneficiary of Louis Langrée’s deep commitment to music and to sharing it as widely as possible for over a decade,” said Jonathan Martin, the CSO’s President and CEO. “His remarkable artistry and devotion to our orchestra and the community are evident in his long list of achievements with the CSO.”
“We are thrilled that Louis will return to lead the orchestra as Music Director Laureate beginning in the 2024-25 season, and we look forward to a fruitful relationship with Louis in the years ahead,” he added.
