John Axelrod
After successful tenures as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Theatre, and as Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, in 2011 John Axelrod was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “Giuseppe” Verdi (LaVerdi), and in 2014 he became the new Artistic and Musical Director of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla (ROSS). Since 2001 he has conducted over 160 orchestras around the world, thirty operas and fifty world premières. Some of his long- term relationships with European orchestras include the Orchestre de Paris, the Rundfunk- Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB), NDR Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Turin, Orchestra Del Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the RSO Wien and the Mariinsky Orchestra, among many others. In Japan he regularly conducts the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and in the United States he has often performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the National Symphony, among others. John Axelrod’s opera activity is extensive. He graduated in 1988 from Harvard University. Trained personally by Leonard Bernstein in 1982, he also studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin in 1996.

Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de la Loire
In September 1971 the Orchestre Philharmonique des Pays de la Loire gave its first concerts in Nantes and Angers under the baton of Pierre Dervaux. Created on the initiative of Marcel Landowski, music director at the Ministry of Culture, the original orchestra was formed by amalgamating the Nantes Opera Orchestra and the Angers Orchestra of the Société des Concerts Populaires. Thus, since its beginning, the orchestra has been based in two cities: Angers and Nantes. Pierre Dervaux was its first music director, followed by Marc Soustrot from 1976 to 1994, and Hubert Soudant from 1994 to 2004. The orchestra became “national” in 1996 with further concerts in Germany, Hungary, Austria, China, Japan and elsewhere. Following the Brazilian Isaac Karabtchevsky, the American conductor John Axelrod was appointed music director in September 2010, and was succeeded in February 2013 by Pascal Rophé, who has brought his own characteristic contribution to the orchestra’s repertoire. The Orchestra is supported financially by the Regional Council of the Pays de la Loire, the Ministry of Culture, the Nantes and Angers town councils, and the Départements of Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire and Vendée.