Alain Lombard
Alain Lombard is among the leading French conductors from the latter half of the 20th century. He has held numerous prestigious positions both in the operatic and orchestral realms. Lombard is best known for his interpretations of French opera, particularly of Bizet's Carmen, Gounod's Faust and Roméo et Juliette, Delibes' Lakmé, and Massenet's Werther. He has also garnered notice for his Puccini and Verdi, as well as for instrumental works by Berlioz, Debussy, and Ravel. Lombard's repertory is hardly limited to French and Italian music, however, as it takes in chunks of Prokofiev, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and many others. He has made numerous recordings since the 1960s for a range of labels, including EMI, Elektra, Erato, Forlane, and Valois.
Lombard was born in Paris on October 4, 1940. He was a prodigy, studying at the Paris Conservatory and receiving his first appointment before his 21st birthday, that of assistant conductor at the Lyons Opera in 1961. He was soon appointed principal conductor there, but departed in 1965. The following year he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in Athens and also accepted the post of conductor of the Greater Miami Symphony Orchestra, having earlier scored a notable success in the United States: his New York debut was at the American Opera Society in 1963 when he led a highly praised performance of Massenet's Hérodiade.
Lombard became an assistant to Leonard Bernstein and in 1967 debuted at the Metropolitan Opera with Gounod's Faust. From 1974 to 1980 Lombard served as director of the Opéra du Rhin, based in Strasbourg, but also performed in Colmar and Mulhouse. By 1980 Lombard had become a major force on both opera and concert stages.
In the 1980s he held a string of impressive posts: from 1981-1983 he was music director of the Opéra National de Paris, then served in the same capacity at the Paris-based Opéra-Comique (1983); and in 1988 he accepted the dual posts of music director of the Bordeaux Opéra and the Bordeaux Aquitaine Orchestra. In 1990 he was appointed director of the Bordeaux Grand Théâtre.
Lombard was also busy in the recording studio, especially throughout the 1990s and the new century, turning out recordings of Lakmé (1990; EMI), the Mahler Fifth Symphony with the Bordeaux Aquitaine Orchestra (1998; Forlane), and several of Carmen, including the 2004 DVD of the Franco Zeffirelli/Verona production on TDK.
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Similar artists
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Delibes: Lakmé
Mady Mesplé, Charles Burles, Orchestre du Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, Alain Lombard
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 4 Apr 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lakmé (highlights)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 & Preludes
Gina Bachauer, Alain Lombard, Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 17 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod: Roméo et Juliette
Mirella Freni, Franco Corelli, Alain Lombard, Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 30 Aug 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot
Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Alain Lombard, Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaïkovsky, Dvořák: Sérénades pour cordes
Alain Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turandot (highlights)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot
Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Alain Lombard, Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte - Highlights
Alain Lombard, Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovski: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6
Alain Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Toreador
Alain Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Opera - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Così Fan Tutte, K. 588 (Cosi Fan Tutti)
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
César Franck : Symphony in D Minor
Alain Lombard, Orchestre de Bordeaux Aquitaine
Symphonies - Released by Calliope on 1 May 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky: Le sarce du printemps & Petrouchka
Alain Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Classical - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin & Glinka : Russian Orchestral Favourites - Apex (- Apex)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 In F, Op. 68 (Pastoral)
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on 16 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung & Ein Heldenleben
Alain Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Symphonic Music - Released by naïve classique on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert : L'intégrale des symphonies
Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana, Alain Lombard
Classical - Released by Forlane on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Cosí fan tutte
Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana, Alain Lombard
Opera - Released by Forlane on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Peter Schubert, Symphony No. 1 In D, D. 82
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on 16 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni, K. 527
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo