O souboru 

American conductor Francis Léger is a gifted interpretive artist, who can

excite audiences with profoundly moving performances, and transform and

build orchestras.  Léger was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the

Czech Chamber Philharmonic in Prague, 2005.

He conducts repertoire from the Baroque through twenty-first century

including new music. 

 

He has conducted in the United States and Canada, and worked with

symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, opera companies, and music

festivals.  Early in his career, Léger served a five-year tenure in music,

production, and administration at the Opera Company of Boston. 

 

In Asia, Léger garnered international attention at the Fifth International

Shanghai Television Festival. As the Festival’s Guest Conductor and

Composer, he conducted the classical music concerts featuring the

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and pianist Xiang-Dong Kong. 

The concerts, which included three world premieres, were televised

nationally to a wide audience throughout China.

 

Léger enjoys success working with young performers and has given

masterclasses in parts of Europe, Asia, and the United States, and

in the cities of Barcelona, Frankfurt, Rome, Shanghai, Boston, Austin,

New Orleans, and Atlanta.  He has conducted conservatory and

university orchestras, and was Director of Orchestras at the University

of Minnesota in Duluth.  As Music Director of the Rome Philharmonic

Orchestra, Léger’s creative initiatives elevated the Philharmonic’s overall

stature and performance.  During this time he was a Visiting Artist at the

American Academy in Rome.

 

After hearing the Arena Orchestra of Verona with Léger conducting,

the legendary conductor Franco Ferrara enthusiastically congratulated

him, "Rarely have I heard such emotion."  While working in Italy in 1983,

Léger accepted a personal invitation to study with Ferrara.

 

In the United States, he studied orchestral conducting with Kurt

Klippstatter at the Hartt School of Music, and at The Pierre Monteux

School.  He graduated with Phi Kappa Phi honors from the Ithaca College

School of Music in New York, Conservatory, where he studied with

Attilio Poto, a student of Arturo Toscanini. 

 

Francis Léger resides with his wife, the pianist Carole Lee,

in the United States.