Orchestre national de France

Linked to French public radio, the Orchestre national de France (ONF) is one of Radio France's four orchestras, along with the Orchestre philharmonique, the Chœur and the Maîtrise. The orchestra was founded in 1934 by Jean Mistler, Minister of Post and Telecommunications, as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française, before being renamed Orchestre national de l'ORTF when the Radio France group and Maison de la Radio were created in 1964, and Orchestre national de France in 1974. The orchestra of around 80 musicians gave its first concert on March 13, 1934, with Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht as principal conductor and Arturo Toscanini as guest conductor, who conducted the orchestra twice in 1935. In 1944, after relocating to Rennes and then Marseille during the Second World War, the orchestra was re-conducted by Manuel Rosenthal and regularly welcomed Charles Munch and André Cluytens. In 1947, he was succeeded by Roger Désormière for a four-year term, until 1951. In addition to the classical repertoire, the Orchestre national de France began a policy of premiering contemporary works, notably Edgar Varèse's Déserts, whose 1954 premiere caused a scandal. After a period of successive interim conductors, the orchestra successively appointed Maurice Le Roux from 1960 to 1967, Jean Martinon from 1968 to 1973 and Romanian Sergiu Celibidache as first guest conductor from 1973 to 1975. In 1977, he was succeeded as Music Director by Lorin Maazel, who raised the orchestra to an internationally renowned level until his departure in 1991. Guest conductors included Japan's Seiji Ozawa and American Leonard Bernstein, followed by Jeffrey Tate during Charles Dutoit's tenure from 1991 to 2001. Kurt Masur succeeded him from 2003 to 2008, followed by Italy's Daniele Gatti from 2008 to 2016, Emmanuel Krivine from 2017 to 2020 and Cristian Măcelaru, whose term expires in 2027.

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