François-Xavier Roth
Conductor François-Xavier Roth is among the most versatile and prolific conductors in 21st century France, active in both modern-instrument and historically-oriented performances. Roth is the director of the period-instrument orchestra Les Siècles, which offers historically authentic performances of music from the 17th to the 20th century.
Roth was born in Paris on November 6, 1971. His father was the well-known organist Daniel Roth. François-Xavier took up the flute and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique for studies on that instrument with Alain Marion before switching to conducting, working with János Fürst. Roth won the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2000, leading to a two-year appointment as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. His turn toward early music came during the same period as an assistant to John Eliot Gardiner. In 2003, Roth founded Les Siècles, which, unlike most other historically oriented ensembles, has applied historical principles to music as far forward as the 20th century. The ensemble has toured continental Europe, Britain, and Japan, and in 2013, to mark the work's 100th anniversary, it performed Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on period instruments at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and the BBC Proms. The group has amassed a large collection of historical instruments from various periods.
Meanwhile, Roth was making inroads into the world of conventional symphony orchestras. He made his recording debut in 2005 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg on a recording of music by Jean-Louis Agobet (1968-). He led the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and then, in 2010, became the final conductor of Germany's SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg before its merger into the SWR Symphonieorchester. In 2014, he was named Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Cologne, which entailed conductorships of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Cologne Opera. Remaining in that position through at least 2022, Roth also became the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Roth's recording catalog is large and covers the various ensembles with which he has been associated. Since his debut on Timpani, he has recorded for various labels, including Hänssler, Actes Sud, and since 2017, Harmonia Mundi, where, in 2020, he released an album with Les Siècles of Ravel's La Valse and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, using period instruments in both works. Roth remained extremely active during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing a total of 18 albums between 2020 and 2023. These included a period-instrument recording of Ravel's Boléro and L'heure espagnole on Harmonia Mundi; in the former, Roth observed Ravel's instructions that the tempo should be kept constant.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Dukas : Velléda - Polyeucte - L’Apprenti sorcier
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 18 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss: Tone Poems, Vol. 4
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 9 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
JacobTV: Who, What, Where, When, Why?
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on 6 May 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss : Tone Poems, Vol. 3
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 2 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt : Dante Symphonie & Orpheus
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Maîtrise de Caen
Symphonic Poems - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 11 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
François-Xavier Roth, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Classical - Released by Myrios Classics on 17 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Panorama (Michel Debost)
Michel Debost, Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Skarbo on 1 Nov 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 (Live)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Myrios Classics on 21 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Panufnik Legacies III
François-Xavier Roth, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by LSO Live on 8 May 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (First Version, 1873)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Myrios Classics on 8 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Myrios Classics on 11 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. SWR Young CLASSIX
Heidrun Warmuth, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg; Francois-Xavier Roth, François-Xavier Roth
Children - Released by Helbling Verlag GmbH on 12 May 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, WAB 109 (Original Version)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Myrios Classics on 19 Apr 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boulez: Messagesquisse
Astrig Siranossian, Yulia Deyneka, Boulez Ensemble, Daniel Barenboim, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 23 Jul 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Matalon : Trames 2, 4, 8
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Florence Cioccolani, Maude Gratton, Eriko Minami
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 5 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz : Symphonie fantastique
Symphonic Music - Released by Musicales Actes Sud on 13 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
España
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Symphonies - Released by harmonia mundi on 6 Apr 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo