Michel Plasson

Born in Paris into a family of musicians, Michel Plasson began studying the piano with Lazare-Lévy at a very young age. He later went on to study percussion and conducting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris where he obtained first prize.
In 1962, he won first prize at the International Competition of Young Conductors in Besançon.
Then, in 1963, he worked with Erich Leinsdorf, Pierre Monteux and Léopold Stokowski at the Tanglewood music festival in the United States.
Upon his return to France in 1965, Michel Plasson was appointed Musical Director in Metz. In 1968, he was appointed permanent conductor at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. He quickly became music director of l’Orchestre du Capitole and also artistic director of the Théâtre du Capitole in 1973, a position he held for the next 30 years.
He was also the Principal Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra for 7 years.
He is regularly invited to conduct many of the greatest orchestras and at many well-known opera houses : from Moscow to Milan, from Leipzig to the United-States, China and Japan.
Michel Plasson currently is the Principal Conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing.
His favourite repertoire has always been French Music (more than one hundred recordings bear witness of that), including “Carmen” in Shanghai, “Manon” and “Faust” in Palermo, “Werther” and “Roméo et Juliette” at the Seville Maestranza, “Le Cid” in Zurich, “Les Troyens” in Strasbourg, “La damnation de Faust” in Tokyo and “Werther” at the Opéra Bastille, to name but a few.
In 1990, he was awarded the Grand Prix Florence-Gould by the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l’Institut de France and the Grand Prix of the international music press in 1995.
He is Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur and Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.