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Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up September 2009 Jean-Marie Zeitouni has emerged as one of Canada’s brightest young conductors whose eloquent yet fiery style in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music results in regular re-engagements across Canada and the United States. His association with Les Violons du Roy goes back seven years, first as conductor-in-residence and since 2004 as associate conductor. Over the years, he has led the ensemble in over 100 performances in the province of Québec, across Canada and in Mexico. He was also music director of their Young Artist Opera Program at the Banff Centre. His recent CD with the ensemble, titled "Piazzola," garnered him a JUNO Award for Classical Album Of The Year in the category Solo or Chamber Ensemble in 2007. He made his US-orchestra debut with the Oregon Symphony in the Spring of 2005. This season is another landmark year for the conductor with a long list of subscription debuts and return engagements. In Canada, he returns for no less than three separate engagements with the Edmonton Symphony, appears for the first time with the Toronto Symphony (conducting Messiah), and makes subscription debuts with the Vancouver Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. In this country, he makes his subscription debut with the Omaha Symphony, and returns to the San Antonio Symphony and Columbus Symphony. 2008/09 was one of Zeitouni’s most impressive seasons yet. He made his subscription debut with numerous major orchestras, including the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and the symphonies of San Antonio, Oregon, and Omaha, as well as debuts at the Round Top Festival, Grant Park, and the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston. After his success the previous season, he returned to the Honolulu Symphony and made his annual appearances at the Lanaudière Festival, Canada’s most prestigious music festival. He also led several opera productions from the pit, among them Lucie de Lammermoor by Donizetti at Cincinnati Opera in its first staging of that work ever, Faust at Calgary Opera and Mozart’s Il re pastore with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. During the 2007/08 season, Zeitouni debuted with the Edmonton Opera in a production of Carmen. Equally in demand on the symphonic stage, he guest-conducted the Honolulu Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Huntsville Symphony and, on two separate occasions, the Monterey Symphony. In Canada, he gave his debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, returned to the Festival Lanaudière with both the Montreal Symphony and Les Violons du Roy, and the Edmonton Symphony. As part of his 2006/07 season, he conducted the highly anticipated world premiere of John Estacio and John Murrell’s Frobisher at Calgary Opera in a co-production with The Banff Centre. He also led Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at Opéra de Québec and the Vancouver Cantata Singers in a Messiah performance, and he made his long-awaited debut with Glimmerglass Opera to lead Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach. In 2005-06, Zeitouni returned to the Montreal Symphony and l’Opéra de Montreal for productions of L’Étoile and The Turn of the Screw. Other operatic productions included Cincinnati Opera (l’Étoile), Banff Centre of the Arts Festival (Die Zauberflöte), Opéra de Montréal (Suor Angelica and Il Tabarro) and Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal (Il Mondo della Luna). He also led the Edmonton Symphony and appeared at the Festival International de Lanaudière. Prior to his commitments with Les Violons du Roy and l’Opera de Montréal, he was music director of a wide array of smaller ensembles and choirs, among them the choir Contrapunctus, le Théâtre d’art lyrique de la Montérégie, le Chœur de Laval and l'Orchestre des Jeunes de l'Ontario Français. He was also director of the orchestra and opera workshop of the Faculty of Music at Laval University, the choir director of the Québec Symphony Orchestra and the chorus master at l’Opéra de Québec. In the summer of 2004, Zeitouni acted as assistant conductor at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City for the Jonathan Miller production of Così fan tutte. Jean-Marie Zeitouni graduated from the Montreal Conservatory in conducting, percussion and theory. He studied with Maestro Raffi Armenian. b i o......r e v i e w s..... back to roster...up . . . .

. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up Toronto Symphony (debut) From the opening chords at Wednesday night's opening performance at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto debutant conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni showed himself very much in charge. His dynamically nuanced, rhythmically lively and temperamentally lyrical approach to the score filled the two-hour score with the kind of vitality that transcends centuries of cultural change. Zeitouni has spent several years with Bernard Labadie and the stellar Violons du Roy, and has clearly learned his musical history lessons well. –The Star, 12/17/09 Winnipeg Symphony Montreal-based maestro Jean-Marie Zeitouni led the orchestra with gusto, energizing the players with every gesture communicative. His conducting without a baton created an even greater immediacy with the musicians, from Waltz King Johann Strauss' lilting Artist's Life to Mendelssohn's The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave). – Winnipeg Free Press, 11/16/09 Columbus Symphony Canadian maestro Jean-Marie Zeitouni returned to the Ohio Theatre podium last night to lead the Columbus Symphony in a memorable concert full of power and excitement. The conductor, who from a distance resembles a young Pavarotti, demonstrated fine control of the orchestra and good command of dynamics as he encouraged the players to offer up their best. An emphatic, almost driven interpretation of Beethoven's Overture of Fidelio ushered in the evening. Fine balance allowed listeners to hear every voice clearly, even when the full orchestra was sounding at top volume. Zeitouni and the orchestra saved their finest work for Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"). The young maestro appeared deeply involved in the music-making, leading the players with swinging arm gestures and full-body moves, all calculated to produce the ultimate in power and excitement. – The Columbus Dispatch, 11/8/09 Montreal Symphony If Zeitouni did not engage in the metric brinksmanship we associate with Franz-Paul Decker in this music, he kept the rhythms lively and the textures light. He also did some 1-2-3 footwork on the podium, quite unconsciously. […] How far can we go in revising the Viennese model? I am sure Zeitouni would do Webern well. - Montreal Gazette, 9/17/09 Opera Theatre of St. Louis (debut) Mozart’s Il re pastore Appreciate conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni's spirited work in the pit with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/8/09 Honolulu Symphony Conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni maintained an absolutely perfect balance throughout the evening, ensuring that every note Sumi Jo sang could be heard, yet allowing the orchestra to thunder in climaxes. Whether highlighting a soloist or integrating multiple groups, Zeitouni kept the music's focus clear and elicited outstanding performances. [..] The stage was so full, it spilled into the wings, but Zeitouni wove the myriad forces into a single ensemble that could be both delicate and thunderous. The Honolulu Symphony delivered a powerful performance that ended with enthusiastic cheering. - Honolulu Advertiser, 4/13/09 Columbus Symphony (debut) Guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, making his Columbus Symphony debut, seems a diamond in the rough. He clearly has a lot of big ideas about the music he is conducting and appears quite accomplished at communicating them via an athletic, sometimes flamboyant style at the front of the ensemble. […] The rendition overall was well-tended by the conductor, who clearly tried to extract the utmost excitement from the players and the music. - The Columbus Dispatch, 3/14/09 b i o.......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . .

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