Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Hires New Music Director

French conductor Lionel Bringuier will assume the role for an initial four-year term as of September 2025 

Lionel Bringuier will be joining the Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (OPRL) as its 10th new music director in the 2025/26 concert season; he will succeed Gergely Madaras, who has held the role since 2019 and will return to the OPRL as a guest conductor in 2026.

Bringuier’s first three collaborations with the OPRL began in 2021. In his new role, he will be involved with concert programming and continuing to develop the orchestra’s national and international reputation and its relationship with audiences.

Under his leadership, venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-enProvence, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Kölner Philharmonie have expressed interest in hosting OPRL.

Outhere Music (and its labels Alpha Classics and Fuga Libera) will also be the first to record OPRL and Bringuier performing together.

A graduate of the Conservatoire de Paris, Bringuier was the former winner of the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon. He later trained with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, alongside Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel.

As a guest conductor, he has led the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, among many others. 

His previous roles include music director of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. Since 2019, he has been an associate artist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and was appointed its principal conductor for its 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

“I am looking forward to building the future of the OPRL with Lionel Bringuier and I am certain that he will succeed in taking the musicians of Liège far, as I have been able to appreciate his experience, his talent, his dedication, and his undeniable personal qualities,” said OPRL’s executive director Aline Sam-Giao. 

“I am very proud and moved to be appointed … Since my first encounter, in February 2021, with the admirable musicians who make up this ensemble, I have been amazed by their exceptional musical abilities and human qualities,” Bringuier said. “It has been a real joy, and I am thrilled that I will be joining the wonderful OPRL family and planning the future together in collaboration with the entire administrative team.”

“Although nearly a quarter of our time together with the orchestra is still ahead of us, which I am greatly looking forward to, I would like to warmly welcome Lionel Bringuier to the OPRL family as my successor,” added Madaras. “Lionel is an experienced and internationally recognized conductor, and I am reassured to know that our esteemed institution, our musicians and our public will be in — and will benefit from a great pair of hands.”