Pierre­ André Valade

He was born in Corrèze, France, and in 1991 he co­founded the Paris based Ensemble Court­-Circuit of which he was Music Director until 2008. He was Principal Conductor of Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen from 2009 to 2014, and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain in 2013.

He is especially admired for his performances of repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries, and receives regular invitations from major festivals and orchestras in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Of his many recordings, Grisey's "Les Espaces Acoustiques" has been singled out for particular praise and won both the Diapason d'or and the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros.

His more recent recordings include works by Hugues Dufourt (winner Diapason d'Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique), and Harrison Birtwistle's "Theseus Game" for Deutsche Grammophon.

A regular guest conductor with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, other orchestras include BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris, Montreal Symphony, Orchestra della RAI Torino, Academia Nationale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Ensemble Intercontemporain, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Contrechamps Geneve, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and Polish National Radio Symphony.

In January 2001 he was awarded Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture.