Sylvain Cambreling, who was born in 1948 in Amiens, France, began his career as a trombonist at the Lyon Opera in 1971 while completing his studies in orchestral conducting. He soon made the transition from the pit to the podium. Between 1975 and 1981 he served as substitute music director of the acclaimed Lyon Music Theatre. In 1976 Pierre Boulez brought him to Paris as regular guest conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. In 1981 Gérard Mortier engaged Cambreling as music director at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels: During his ten-year tenure there, Cambreling conducted forty new productions that were designed by such directors as Luc Bondy, Patrice Chéreau, Peter Mussbach, and Herbert Wernicke. In 1993 Cambreling headed to Frankfurt Opera, where he served for three years as artistic director and general music director; in 1994 the magazine Opernwelt selected him as Conductor of the Year, and in 1996 Franfurt Opera was chosen as best of the year. Since 1999 Cambreling has been head of the Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden Baden and Freiburg, and in 2010 he will assume leadership of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. In the 1990s he was especially recognizable for his regular appearances at the Salzburg Festival, and he has also made appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala in Milan, and the Vienna State Opera; since 2004 he has served a one of the principal conductors at the Paris Opera. In the concert hall, Cambreling has partnered with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the Czech Philharmonic, as well as with the Los Angeles and Oslo Philharmonics. Not least has he won an outstanding reputation as a champion of modern music, particularly through his work with the Vienna Klangforum, of which he was principal guest conductor between 1997 and 2004.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut September 2, 2000 in works of Rihm, Hosokawa, an Kurtág preformed by the Vienna Klangforum Wien. Previous appearance was on November 25, 2006 with the Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra in works of Varèse, Ravel, and Strauss.