Philippe Béran

Born in Geneva in 1962 Philippe Béran studied both science and music simultaneously, graduating in theoretical physics at Geneva University, as well as obtaining First Prize at the Conservatoire de Genève (clarinet and conducting) and at the Conservatoire National de Paris (clarinet).  Today he has an international career and each season conducts approximately 100 concerts and performances with world-famous institutions.  In addition to a vast repertoire, ranging from the XVIII to XXI centuries and all music genres, he has 4 trump cards: ballet, movie-concerts, commentated concerts for young audiences and families and creation.

Ever since his tenure as Associate Conductor at Opéra de Bordeaux from 1997 to 2000 Philippe Béran has always succeeded in creating passionate and longterm relations with the institutions he works with, such as:

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande since 1995
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (1996 – 2010)
Opéra National de Bordeaux (1997 – 2007)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève since 2001
Le Grand Théâtre de Genève from 2002
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo since 2003
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg from 2003 to 2012
Royal Swedish Opera (Stockholm)...

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Born in Geneva in 1962 Philippe Béran studied both science and music simultaneously, graduating in theoretical physics at Geneva University, as well as obtaining First Prize at the Conservatoire de Genève (clarinet and conducting) and at the Conservatoire National de Paris (clarinet).  Today he has an international career and each season conducts approximately 100 concerts and performances with world-famous institutions.  In addition to a vast repertoire, ranging from the XVIII to XXI centuries and all music genres, he has 4 trump cards: ballet, movie-concerts, commentated concerts for young audiences and families and creation.

Ever since his tenure as Associate Conductor at Opéra de Bordeaux from 1997 to 2000 Philippe Béran has always succeeded in creating passionate and longterm relations with the institutions he works with, such as:

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande since 1995
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (1996 – 2010)
Opéra National de Bordeaux (1997 – 2007)
Orchestre de Chambre de Genève since 2001
Le Grand Théâtre de Genève from 2002
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo since 2003
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg from 2003 to 2012
Royal Swedish Opera (Stockholm) since 2009
Capitole de Toulouse (France) since 2010
National Finnish Opera (Helsinki) since 2011
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana since 2014
Orchestre National de France since 2016

His passion for ballet led him in December 2007 to conduct 9 performances of The Nutcracker at the Lincoln Centre with the New York City Ballet, and to inaugurate the new Beijing Opera with the ballet Paquita in May 2008 with the Ballet national de l’Opéra de Paris and the Beijing Central Ballet Symphony Orchestra.

Philippe Béran is a great movie fan and has always been interested in the fantastic repertoire of film music.  He is also a passionate conductor of cine-concerts, a formula consisting of accompanying a film screening with a live orchestra.  He has a very broad repertoire, in particular all of Charlie Chaplin’s films, of which he is an expert.

He is a regular associate of the Festival de Locarno, conducting the opening performance with a cine-concert.

Keen to communicate his passion and deep love of music to new generations, Philippe Béran (married with four children) builds on his own enthusiasm, energy and pleasure which he then communicates to the audience.

In order to bring music to those who know little – or nothing – about it, he has developed an original and lively formula for concerts where the audience is not kept at a distance, but often invited to take part.  Shorter than traditional concerts and with appropriate commentaries, these concerts allow the audience to discover all repertoires, from opera to video games music, simply and humorously, in an atmosphere of sharing and pleasure.  It is in the same spirit that for 30 years he has been conducting the Geneva College Orchestra which brings together 100 young musicians, aged 14 to 19, as well as teaching orchestra conducting at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU) since 2009.

Finally, very open and passionate about artistic perspectives of the future, Philippe Béran has created a very large number of works in all musical genres.

Philippe Béran’s personality can be summed up by his: energy, emotion, imagination, enthusiasm, humour, pleasure, rigour, creativity, curiosity, professionalism, precision and quality.

Philippe Béran was appointed "Chevalier de l’ordre du Mérite Culturel de la Principauté de Monaco" by H.R.H. The Princess of Hanover in November 2019.