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One of today’s most imaginative conductors and programmers, François-Xavier Roth is a charismatic communicator with a voracious intellectual curiosity. He brings fresh perspectives to every kind of classical music, whether performing Baroque music and Stravinsky on original instruments, leading large-scale iconic modern masterpieces, or presenting standard favourites.
Roth enters his second season as Chief Conductor of SWR Symphonieorchester with a characteristically diverse and imaginative programme spanning both old and new music. His intellectual fascination with the aesthetic, acoustical, historical and emotional dimensions of music leads to unusual and compelling combinations of repertoire. Highlights this season include concerts pairing Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben with Philippe Manoury’s Violin Concerto, and an SWR commission of a new cello work by Francesca Verunelli with Rameau’s Les Indes galantes and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse.
Roth is a fierce advocate for new music, and has worked closely with composers including Boulez, Lachenmann and Rihm. He brings this open approach and insight into the composition process to his work with the classical music canon, finding new sounds and fresh interpretations that remain authentic and true to historic composers. His extensive and award-winning discography represents this outlook, ranging from Beethoven and Schumann, through Bruckner and Bizet, to Ligeti and Feldman.
A natural leader, Roth brings charisma and authority to leading musicians and artists in ambitious, large-scale projects. This season, these include a live performance of Luigi Nono’s Prometeo at Elbphilharmonie and Martin Matalon’s score for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. In 2023, he spearheaded celebrations marking Ligeti’s centenary year, curating a two-week festival at Maison de la Radio et de la Musique that included Ligeti’s provocative masterpiece Le Grand Macabre.
He is equally committed to sharing music on a more personal scale, championing its universal power to create connection and foster well-being. In the coming season, he leads the SWR Symphonieorchester in an event for World Alzheimer’s Day, as well as a multi-generational project based on Ravel’s Boléro. As Founder and Music Director of Les Siècles, he established the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz, and during his time as General Music Director of the Gürzenich Orchester Cologne, he initiated the Bürgerorchester and Bürgerchor, a community orchestra and choir.
He was awarded the German Record Critics’ Honorary Prize 2020, the youngest conductor ever to receive it. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 2017 and given the Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor Award in 2024, with the jury citation describing him as a ‘modern-day musical Midas’.
Guest conducting appearances (2026–27)
Saito Kinen Orchestra at Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Berlin Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Rotterdam Philharmonic
Awards
German Record Critics’ Prize 2016; Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur (2017); Gramophone Awards Orchestral Album of the Year 2018; Victoires de la Musique Classique Recording of the Year 2018; German Record Critics’ Honorary Prize (2020); Presto Music Recording of the Year 2020; Edison Klassiek Prize 2022; Franco Abbiati Record Critics’ Award – IV edition 2022; Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor Award (2024)
‘Empathetic musicality and flair for colour’
The Times
Like the difference between a sparkling fruity champagne and an old, long stored red wine … a seductive bouquet of strong, warm and velvety nature smells, noble woody notes and dark, full colours.
Remy Franck, Pizzicato, Ravel: Daphnis & Chloé CD
Reviews of François-Xavier Roth’s regularly praised recordings in our pages all hint at one thing: there’s never anything routine about his approach, the sound or the vision.
Mark Cullingford, The Gramophone
Raw, radical and revelatory as Roth’s period band thrills…His vibrant interpretations are radical, crafted by expressive, fluttering hand movements and backed up by eloquent body language.
Clive Paget, The Guardian