(Philadelphia, February 19, 2020)—Following an international audition process, The Philadelphia Orchestra is pleased to announce the appointment of Philippe Tondre as principal oboe (Samuel S. Fels chair) beginning in the 2020–21 season on September 14, 2020. He will become the Orchestra’s eighth principal oboe in 120 years.
“We are beyond excited to have the uniquely gifted Philippe Tondre join our Orchestra family,” said Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. “As we continue to strive to bring The Philadelphia Orchestra to audiences around the world, we anticipate his exciting artistic contributionsto our work.”
Philippe Tondre studied in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique with David Walter and Jacques Tys; he further studied with Maurice Bourgue. Tondre has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his debut in the Berlin Philharmonie in June 2013, playing Bohuslav Martinů’s Oboe Concerto, accompanied by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He is currently principal oboe of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (since March 2019), the SWR Symphonieorchester (since January 2009), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (since September 2014), the Mito Chamber Orchestra (since January 2012), and the Saito Kinen Orchestra (since January 2012). Tondre is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Saarbrücken, where he started in 2015.
Tondre has competed in numerous international competitions and has been awarded First Prize at the International Double Reed Society’s Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition (2009); Second Prize at the Tokyo International Competition (2009); and Third Prize at the Geneva International Competition (2010) and the Prague Spring International Competition (2008). In 2012 he received the Beethoven Ring, a musical honor given by the city of Bonn at the Beethoven Festival, thus joining the prestigious list of previous recipients including Julia Fischer, Lisa Batiashvili, and Gustavo Dudamel. Tondre also appeared in the ARTE television program Stars of Tomorrow, hosted by Rolando Villazón. He won the ARD International Music Competition as well as the Audience Prize and the prize for the best interpretation of Liza Lim’s commissioned composition in Munich (2011). Tondre has collaborated with such artists as Heinz Holliger, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yuri Bashmet, and Nathalie Stutzmann. He has attended the Tokyo Spring Festival, Mozart Fest Würzburg, the Sochi Winter International Arts Festival, the Besançon International Music Festival, and the Molyvos International Music Festival.
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