ÉTIENNE LEMIEUX-DESPRÉS
Conductor
Young Quebec conductor Étienne Lemieux-Després impresses with his dynamism and precision when conducting. Originally from Otterburn Park, Étienne Lemieux-Després studied orchestral and choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg (Nuremberg University of Music) and has since accumulated European engagements.
This season, Étienne will assist Ivor Bolton for a new production of Mitridate at the Teatro Real in Madrid as well as Gustavo Gimeno for a Wagner and Strauss gala. He will also attend the Zurich Opera for the first time next season for La clemenza di Tito conducted by Marc Minkowski.
Canadian conductor Étienne Lemieux-Després recently celebrated his debut with the Musiciens du Louvre in a concert dedicated to Mozart at the Ho Guom Opera in Hanoi last August.
Maestro Étienne Lemieux-Després developed a passion for historical performance through his friendship with Roger Norrington.
His collaboration with Marc Minkowski and the Musiciens du Louvre dates back to January 2020 for Handel's Messiah during Mozartwoche 2020 and then Mozart's Mitridate at the Berlin State Opera. Other collaborations with Minkowski include productions with the NDR Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie for the New Year’s Concert 2023 and at the Berlin State Opera for Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni in 2024.
Étienne’s engagements also include assisting Kent Nagano for Wagner’s Ring with period instruments at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, at the Hamburg State Opera for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, as well as concerts with the Münchner Philharmoniker. He has also been assistant for Korngold’s Die tote Stadt in Meiningen, Ariadne auf Naxos in Zwickau, Massenet’s Cendrillon in Taiwan and Poulenc’s La voix humaine in Bordeaux.
As a guest conductor, Étienne has conducted productions such as Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow for the OperettenSommer in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, and a student production of La Bohème in Erlangen. He has been a guest conductor at the Volkstheater in Munich, where he conducted Gymnasium Bonn Park and Ben Roesller. He has conducted concerts with the Neue Philharmonie Berlin, the University Orchestra Erlangen, the Nuremberg Community Orchestra, the Erlangen Philharmonie, and the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Saint-Étienne in France.
Étienne was a trainee of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival in the summer of 2024. He is also a recipient of the Nuremberg Wagner Association Scholarship and several scholarships from the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts.
