Jean-Claude Casadesus

Jean-Claude Casadesus (Paris, 7 December 1935) is a French conductor and composer, grandson of Henri Casadesus. He is notable for his extensive work at the helm of several of France's leading orchestras and for his championing of a repertoire ranging from the Viennese classics to French music of the twentieth century.

His training began with percussion at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied the instrument before turning to conducting. He refined his conducting with Pierre Dervaux at the École Normale de Musique de Paris between 1963 and 1965, and with Pierre Boulez in Basel in 1965. He began his career as a percussionist and, over time, devoted himself entirely to the baton.

He was director of the Paris Opera between 1969 and 1971 and co-conducted the Pays de la Loire Philharmonic Orchestra between 1971 and 1976. In 1976 he founded the Orchestre National de Lille, of which he was music director. Alongside his ties to the great Parisian orchestras, he has toured Europe as a guest conductor.

Among his recordings, the Mahler symphonies, Honegger's Le roi David and Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande stand out. In 1988 he revived and recorded Bizet's early cantata Clovis et Clotilde. Several works were dedicated to him, among them Xenakis's Tracées, whose premiere he conducted in 1987. He has also composed incidental music for theatre and film.