Dubbed one of the last “grands seigneurs of his art” in Vienna, Charles Dutoit is recognized the world over for his charismatic, elegant, passionate and idiomatic interpretations of an eclectic array of musical styles. Recipient of two of the most prestigious honours in the music world, the Gold Medal of the “Royal Philharmonic Society” and the “Premio una Vita nella Musica 2022” from the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, he collaborated with more than 150 orchestras throughout the world and enjoyed long directorships with the Montreal Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France and the NHK Symphony of Tokyo.
Born on October 7th, 1936 in Lausanne into a non-musical family, the young Charles Dutoit began his formal studies encompassing violin, viola, piano, percussion, composition, counterpoint, instrumentation and conducting at the Lausanne and Geneva Conservatories, obtaining his violin diploma at age 18. Commencing his professional career as a violinist, he participated in the orchestra’s conducting masterclasses given by Herbert von Karajan at the Lucerne Festival. The lasting impression left by this encounter still resonates, defined by its profound intensity and the invaluable lessons learned. Continuing on as a viola player, he embarked on a tour of South America with the Collegium Musicum Helveticum, traveling on the SS Conte Biancamano, a 36-day roundtrip. Upon his return to Europe, he furthered his studies by attending, for a period of three years, the legendary Ernest Ansermet’s rehearsals in Geneva; a mentorship instrumental in broadening his cultural horizons, musically, intellectually and humanistically.
After obtaining First Prize in conducting from the Geneva Conservatory in 1958, Charles Dutoit attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, studying with Alceo Galliera. The following year, at the age of 22, Charles Dutoit made his professional debut as a conductor with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Martha Argerich as soloist. He traveled to the United States for the first time, enrolling at the Tanglewood Music School where he met Pierre Monteux and Charles Munch. Prolonging his stay to attend the Premiere of Dutilleux’s Second Symphony in Boston, he discovered through a conversation with him, that Stravinsky was in New York. This unexpected turn of events offered the young man an extraordinary opportunity to meet the esteemed composer. With determination and good fortune, he was able to hear Stravinsky’s rehearsals of “Les Noces”, turning pages for one of the four pianists, Lukas Foss, the others being Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Roger Sessions.
Under Ansermet’s influence, Charles Dutoit was able to cultivate and enrich his apprenticeship of the Ballets Russes composers: Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy and Falla. Having met Stravinsky earlier in New York, his aspiration had been to conduct “The Rite of Spring” before reaching the age of 30, a wish that materialized through an engagement in Bern Symphony on January 30th, 1964. The success of this endeavour impressed Karajan who immediately invited him to the Staatsoper to conduct the first performance in Vienna of Falla’s Ballet “The Three-Cornered-Hat”, propelling the young conductor into an international career spanning over six decades. In the spring of the same year, Charles Dutoit was appointed Associate Conductor to Paul Kletzki with the Bern Symphony, subsequently becoming its Music Director. At the same time, he was named Principal Conductor of the Zurich Radio Orchestra, and shortly thereafter, Associate Conductor to Rudolf Kempe at the Zurich Tonhalle. Under Kempe’s invitation, Charles Dutoit made two significant debuts: with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London Festival Hall and with the Munich Philharmonic.
In 1970, Charles Dutoit made his first recording for Erato: Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale”, a recording still ranking at the top of the chart to this day. The following year, with Martha Argerich and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he recorded the Tchaikowsky piano concerto no 1 for Deutsche Gramophone. This was the beginning of a prolific artistic association with numerous record companies, producing over 200 CDs. ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE de MONTRÉAL. After a debut with the Israel Philharmonic in 1974 followed by a 3-year directorship with the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, Charles Dutoit became Music Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 1978, being named after just one concert, a partnership that lasted 25 years. It was the dawn of a new dynamic musical collaboration recognized the world over. A legendary long-term contract with Decca London was signed in 1980, followed by the release of their first CD “Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé”, an instant best-seller and global phenomenon for the nascent digital technology, winning the most coveted prizes and generating superlative reviews. Charles Dutoit and the OSM embarked on 37 international tours, played 36 sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts, performed 2,048 different works from 545 composers and recorded more than 100 CDs.
In 1982, he made his debut with the Boston and Chicago Symphonies, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and continued performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, making him one of the youngest conductors to lead the Big Five US orchestras in the same year. Additionally, he took on the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1983. Charles Dutoit made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980, enjoying some 10 years of guest conducting before becoming Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the orchestra’s season at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia for a decade. He held the same position at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York for twenty-one years, eventually becoming their Chief Conductor. His 32-year partnership culminated in more than 700 concerts, multiple tours and recordings. He also regularly guest-conducted all the other major American orchestras.
From 1991 to 2001, Charles Dutoit served as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France in Paris. During his tenure, the orchestra toured extensively across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. In 1996, in a significant milestone, they became one of the first foreign orchestras to perform in China, introducing the audience to Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” for the first time. Numerous recordings were produced, including an important collection of works by Poulenc and Roussel. Having frequently collaborated with all of London’s orchestras, notably establishing a significant bond with the Philharmonia, his most enduring and closest partnership, however, was with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Throughout their 50-year association, they performed 266 concerts in 27 countries, made several recordings and held residencies at the Montreux Septembre Musical Festival (Switzerland) and at the MISA Festival in Shanghai. From 2009 to 2018, he held the position of Music Director and Principal Conductor of the RPO. Across his remarkably long career, Charles Dutoit has led numerous concerts with all of Europe’s leading orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In 2019, he assumed the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.
Since his debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in 1970, Charles Dutoit forged a close relationship with Japan. At the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, he was appointed Principal Conductor in 1996, then its Music Director in 1998, while presently holding the title of Music Director Emeritus. Together, they toured China, South-East Asia, the USA and Europe, where they were invited to perform at the Salzburg Festival in 2013. For the NHK Television, Charles Dutoit participated in ten documentaries entitled “Music Cities of the World” presenting the cultural, musical and historical context of each destination. He has made 76 visits to Japan and performed 436 concerts. His professional association with China started in 1996 with the Orchestre National de France. Apart from the Chinese Premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”, he also led the first performances in China of the Strauss Operas, Elektra & Salomé, Britten’s War Requiem, the original versions of Stravinsky’s Ballets, The Firebird and Petrouchka and several other works. He has visited China 35 times with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Verbier Festival Orchestra, NYO-USA and six times with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Moreover, he is a regular guest of the Beijing Music Festival, the Shanghai Symphony, the China Philharmonic and the Guangzhou Symphony.
Since his debut at the Vienna Opera in 1964, Charles Dutoit conducted in many of the world’s opera houses including the New York Met, London Covent Garden, Opera di Roma, and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires where he performed a series of Wagner’s Operas and more recently, Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”. Having been a fervent performer of new music and befriended such composers as Dutilleux, Gubaidulina, Hosokawa, Lutoslawski, McMillan, Messiaen, Penderecki, Tan Dun, Theodorakis and Xenakis – Charles Dutoit has been a significant advocate in commissioning new works for his different orchestras. Indeed, several of these new compositions are dedicated to him. In 1991, Charles Dutoit was made Honorary Citizen of the City of Philadelphia, in 1995, Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Québec, in 1996, Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France and in 1998, he was invested as Honorary Officer of the Order of Canada. He is an Honorary Member of the Ravel Foundation in France and the Stravinsky Foundation in Switzerland. He set up an extraordinary legacy of over 200 recordings/DVD’s, 67 Carnegie Hall appearances, some 30 personal awards and over 80 international prizes as well as being the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Classical Music Awards and the Gold Medal from the City of Lausanne. A globetrotter motivated by his passion for history and archaeology, political science, art and architecture, Charles Dutoit has traveled in all 196 nations of the world.