Orchestre National de France

Cristian Măcelaru, Music Director

The Orchestre National de France is both an established authority and a dynamic force in the interpretation of French music. Its international tours have made it a flagship for French culture across the world, while its presence throughout France, reinforced by vibrant educational programmes, has cemented its relationship with a diversity of national audiences.

A Radio France ensemble, the Orchestre National de France was founded in 1934 as the country’s first full-time symphony orchestra. Its mission to serve the symphonic repertoire was furthered by radio broadcasts of its concerts, and it soon achieved an enviable reputation. 

After the Second World War, Manuel Rosenthal, André Cluytens and Jean Martinon, among others, enriched this tradition, magnified by successive musical directors (Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Daniele Gatti, Emmanuel Krivine) and regular guests (Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa...). On September 1, 2020, Cristian Măcelaru took over as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. 

In the course of the 20th century the Orchestre National de France gave the premieres of a number of major works, including Le Soleil des eaux by Boulez, Déserts by Varèse, Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony (French premiere), Xenakis’s Jonchaies and the majority of Dutilleux’s large-scale compositions.

Numerous recordings by the orchestra are commercially available. The Orchestre National, under the baton of Louis Langrée, recorded Ravel's two piano concertos with pianist Alexandre Tharaud, and to mark the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, a complete set of symphonies conducted by Cristian Măcelaru for Warner Classics. Finally, a boxed set of George Enescu's symphonies conducted by Cristian Măcelaru has been released in 2024 by Deutsche Grammophon.