Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor.

Michel Plasson
Michel Plasson conducting Fidelio in Toulouse, 1975.

Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. He studied briefly in the United States, including time with Charles Münch. He became the music director of the city of Metz for 3 years.

In 1968, Plasson became principal conductor of the Orchestre et Chœurs du Capitole de Toulouse. His recordings with the orchestra include orchestral works, and operettas of Jacques Offenbach, including Orphée aux enfers, La Vie parisienne, La Périchole and La belle Hélène, and Bizet's Carmen.[1] Plasson resigned as principal conductor in 2003 and now has the title of "Honorary Conductor", or conductor emeritus. From 1994 to 2001, he was principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic.

Guest appearances include Grand Théâtre de Genève, De Nederlandse Opera (Amsterdam) and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Plasson's son Emmanuel Plasson is also a conductor.

Selected discography

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Plasson's recordings were mainly made for EMI/Virgin, and focused upon works by French composers. Among these recordings, his interpretations for the operatic works by Offenbach, Gounod and Massenet were generally considered as excellent by critics.

Berlioz

Bizet

Chabrier

Debussy

  • Orchestral Works, with Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse.

Delibes

Duruflé

Fauré

  • Orchestral Works, with Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse.

Gardel

  • 15 Tangos, with Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse.

Gounod

Lalo

  • Symphonie espagnole and Violin Concerto, with Augustin Dumay.

Landowski

Magnard

  • Four symphonies, and orchestral works (1983, 1988, 1990)
  • Guercoeur, with José van Dam, Hildegard Behrens and Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, 1986.
External audio
  You may hear Michel Plasson conducting Jules Massenet's opera Hérodiade with Thomas Hampson, Cheryl Studer, Nadine Denize, Ben Heppner and the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse in 1995 Here on archive.org

Massenet

Offenbach

Orff

Ravel

Saint-Saëns

  • Complete Piano Concertos 1-5, Philippe Entremont, piano, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Michel Plasson. 2 CD CBS Masterworks 1989. Recorded 1971 & 1978.
  • Organ symphony n°3, op.78, Cyprès et Lauriers, op.156, La Foi, 3 tableaux symphoniques op.130, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Michel Plasson. 2 CD Emi classics 1997

Verdi

References

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  1. ^ Edward Greenfield (2003-02-14). "Bizet: Carmen". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
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