Grammy -winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

At the 2023 George Enescu Festival, his inaugural season as Artistic Director, Măcelaru led the George Enescu Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester and Orchestre National de France alongside the Romanian Youth Orchestra. The 2023 festival presents more than 100 concerts in six separate series spanning over four weeks in five different venues. Some 3,500 guest artists will take part, including Martha Argerich, Gautier Capuçon, Yuja Wang, Zubin Mehta, Klaus Mäkela and Sir Simon Rattle. Performances include 39 Enescu compositions, as well as Romanian premieres from composers Tan Dun, John Adams, Jörg Widmann and others. Orchestras from 16 different countries take part, including the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony and Concertgebouworkest.

In addition to their regular performances in Paris, Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France will play a major role in the opening ceremony of the Paris Summer Olympics in July 2024. During the 2023–24 season, they will tour major cities in Austria and Spain, including Vienna, Madrid and Barcelona. This season, Măcelaru will also tour in China and South Korea with the WDR Sinfonieorchester. Additional 2023–24 season highlights include Măcelaru’s debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra and return engagements with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Măcelaru’s previous seasons include European engagements with the Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Staatskapelle Berlin and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra. Măcelaru maintains an especially close collaboration with The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he previously held the position of Conductor-in-Residence for three seasons. Măcelaru has conducted more than 150 performances with the orchestra since his debut in April 2013.

Măcelaru is equally at home as a conductor of opera, including productions of Don Giovanni with the Houston Grand Opera and Madama Butterfly with Opera Națională București.

With his title orchestras, Măcelaru has released an array of albums including the complete symphonies of Saint-Saëns on Warner Classics with the Orchestre National de France, as well as albums featuring works by Bartók and Dvořák on Linn Records with the WDR Sinfonieorchester. His most recent Linn Records album, Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Dance Suite with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, was featured as Gramophone magazine’s March 2023 “Editor’s Choice.”

In 2020, Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and The Philadelphia Orchestra. His international career was launched in 2012 when he was asked to step in for Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During that same year, he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed in 2014 by the Solti Conducting Award.

Măcelaru makes a great effort to open classical music to a broader audience through accessibility and education. In his role as Chief Conductor with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, he created the ensemble’s Kurz und Klassic program, in which he shares personal insights into each of the major compositions chosen for performance. This video series has built a significant following, a testament to Măcelaru's continued impact in bringing audiences closer to the music. With the Orchestre National de France, he created a new series of concerts, L’œuvre augmentée, conceived to deepen patrons’ appreciation of the music by offering insights into the themes and backgrounds of the works presented. Most recently, in his Artistic Director role with the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Măcelaru has created a new series of concerts for children as part of an initiative to enrich and modernize the festival. Emphasizing contemporary compositions, these programs enhance listeners’ appreciation of the music while promoting social values of equality, empowerment and diversity.

With the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Măcelaru has helped nurture the collaborative spirit underlying the festival’s core mission. Using his leadership role as a platform for engagement, he has brought artists, audience members and festival executives into a shared creative process through open rehearsals and interaction with the composers in residence.

Măcelaru devotes significant time to mentoring young musicians in his capacity as an educator, continuing the great legacy of the Cabrillo Conductors/Composers Workshop that brings together the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and leading faculty with early career conductors and composers for a professional training program focused on the creation and performance of new music. He also holds annual conducting masterclasses in Timisoara with the Romanian Chamber Orchestra and each year calls for scores from young Romanian composers. More than 40 compositions thus far have been written through this initiative. This season, Măcelaru will also work with young musicians during his residency at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

Măcelaru was born in Timișoara, Romania and comes from a musical family. As the youngest of 10 children, all of whom received instrumental lessons at an early age, Măcelaru excelled on the violin. His studies took him from Romania to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, University of Miami in Florida and Rice University in Houston, where he studied conducting with Larry Rachleff. He then deepened his knowledge at Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival in masterclasses with David Zinman, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury.

Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at the age of 19. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons.  

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Photo Credit: Adriane White