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François LELEUX
leleuxf@aol.com

… [François Leleux is] a star act. Here was phenomenal skill and personality, displayed across a vast range of colours and dynamics, delivered with winking wit through an oboe constantly circling the air.
The Times

Recognised throughout the world as the best oboist of his generation, François Leleux enjoys an international career appearing with major orchestras and at important venues and festivals performing repertoire from Baroque to newly commissioned works. François has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Vienna Symphoniker, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with the Orchestre National de France, at Bunkamara with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and at the Lincoln Center as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has worked with leading conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Mariss Jansons, Sir Colin Davis, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, Thomas Dausgaard, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Alan Gilbert.

François Leleux began his professional career when, aged 18, he was appointed Principal Oboe at the Opéra de Paris. Three years later he won the solo position in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 2004. His musical activities are now split between solo appearances, play/directing, chamber music, recitals and concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, of which he appointed Principal Oboe in 2003. He is a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.

He has a commitment to expanding the oboe’s repertoire, and has had many new works commissioned for him by composers such as Nicolas Bacri, Thierry Pecou, Gilles Silvestrini, Eric Tanguy, Thierry Escaich, Giya Kancheli and Michael Jarrell. In season 2010/2011 he will premiere a concerto written by Albert Schnelzer jointly commissioned by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. François has also made his own transcriptions of arias from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Magic Flute which he has recorded with Camerata Salzburg for Sony.

François is a dedicated chamber musician, performing regularly all over the world with octet Ensemble Paris-Bastille and sextet Les Vents Français. Regular recital partners include harpist Isabell Moretti and his wife, violinist Lisa Batiashvili.

François has an exclusive recording contract with Sony. So far, as part of this contract he has released 3 CDs – chamber music with Lisa Batiashvili, violist Lawrence Power and cellist Sebastian Klinger, Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Mozart with Camerata Salzburg. He is currently recording his next release for Sony, which will feature the Strauss Oboe Concerto and Serenade for Winds.