Ludovic Morlot
Ludovic Morlot’s élan, elegance, and intensity onstage have endeared him to audiences and orchestras worldwide, from the Berliner Philharmoniker to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His most recent appointment sees Morlot take up the role of Chief Conductor Designate of the Porto Symphony Orchestra at Casa da Música in 2027, alongside his current positions as Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra since September 2021, Conductor Emeritus of the Seattle Symphony (where he was Music Director from 2011 to 2019), and Associate Artist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra since 2019. He was Artistic Director and a founding member of the National Youth Orchestra of China (2017–21), conducting its inaugural concerts at Carnegie Hall and in China in 2017 and on tour to Europe in 2019. He was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie from 2012 to 2014, conducting new productions in Brussels and at the Aix Easter Festival, including La clemenza di Tito, Jenůfa, and Pelléas et Mélisande.
In 2026/27 Morlot makes his debut at the MITO SettembreMusica festival, presenting the Italian premieres of two Ravel rediscoveries alongside works by Falla. He returns to the BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Aalborg and Trondheim symphonies. Across North America, he conducts the San Diego, Seattle, Kansas City, New Jersey, Utah, and Vancouver symphonies as well as the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In Asia and Australasia, he returns to the Adelaide Symphony and Nagoya Philharmonic.
Morlot has guest conducted with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Philharmonic, and Budapest Festival orchestras and with many of the leading North American orchestras, notably the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics and the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra.
He has a particularly strong connection to Boston, having been the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at Tanglewood and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony. Morlot has since conducted the orchestra in subscription concerts, at Tanglewood, and on a tour to the West Coast. He has also appeared extensively in Asia and Australasia, notably with the Yomiuri Nippon and Melbourne symphony orchestras.
Morlot’s tenure in Seattle was a hugely significant period in the orchestra’s musical journey, and he still returns for several weeks each season. His innovative programming encompassed not only his choice of repertoire and commissions, but also theatrical productions and performances outside the traditional concert-hall space. Some of these projects—including John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, Aaron Jay Kernis’ Violin Concerto performed by James Ehnes, and an exploration of Dutilleux’s music—earned the orchestra five Grammy Awards, as well as the distinction of being named Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year. To date Morlot has released 21 recordings with the Seattle Symphony Media label, including Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles in 2023.
Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School with Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo. He continued his education in London at the Royal Academy and then at the Royal College as recipient of the Norman Del Mar Conducting Fellowship. He is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle and a visiting artist at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. He sat on the jury of the Leeds International Piano Competition (2021) and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music.
