François Leleux
Director / Oboe
François Leleux – conductor, leader and oboist – is renowned for his irrepressible energy and exuberance.
In the 2019/20 season Leleux becomes Artist-in-Residence with Aalborg Symfonieorkester, appearing as both conductor and soloist. He returns to Scottish Chamber Orchestra to conduct the season’s opening concerts as well as a tour to Asia. He debuts as conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra, and returns to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Gävle Symphony Orchestra.
At the Mozartwoche Salzburg Leleux appears as conductor with Camerata Salzburg, soloist with Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and chamber musician with Les Vents Français.
As an oboist Leleux has performed with New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestre Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and the NHK symphony orchestras. Leleux has in parallel established a successful conducting career, working with orchestras such as Sydney Symphony, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Swedish Radio Symphony, and WDR Sinfonieorchester. A dedicated chamber musician, he regularly performs worldwide with sextet Les Vents Français and with recital partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser.
Committed to expanding the oboe’s repertoire, Leleux has had many new works commissioned for him by composers such as Nicolas Bacri, Michael Jarrell, Giya Kancheli, Thierry Pécou, Gilles Silvestrini, and Eric Tanguy.
Leleux has released several CDs on Sony Classical, the latest of which - a disc of works by Hummel and Haydn recorded with Münchener Kammerorchester – received award recognition in 2016.
When the space is filled by a conductor and soloist with the outsize charisma and musicianship of the French oboist François Leleux, the effect is doubled.
Performance with François Leleux