Jean-Philippe Tremblay

Conductor Jean-Philippe Tremblay has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de la francophonie (OF) since its founding in 2001. To date, the Tremblay-OF team has given nearly 400 concerts in Canada, China and the United States. Mr. Tremblay recently conducted the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in Toronto in a gala concert in honour of the late Jessye Norman, then winner of the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize. In recent seasons, he has also been the guest conductor for many prestigiousEuropean orchestras: the Orchestre National de France, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Region of Asturias Symphony Orchestra. His debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was highly praised, and the concert, which was broadcast on national television, also received acclaim, including this comment by critic Renée Reitsma:

“Conducting the orchestra with an energy that reminded me of fellow French-Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tremblay had contagious enthusiasm while still being in full control.” — Renée Reitsma

In Asia, he has conducted the Macao Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra. In the Americas, he has been guest conductor with the Winnipeg, Montréal, Quebec, London, Nova Scotia, Kitchener, Ottawa and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the YOA Orchestra of the Americas, the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. The next few seasons, in addition to being invited back to the helm of numerous orchestras, he will make his debut with the orchestras of Tokyo and Beijing, and conduct concerts in Spain, England and the Netherlands.

Jean-Philippe Tremblay studied viola, composition and conducting at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Chicoutimi, École Pierre-Monteux, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He plays a 1755 Guillami viola on loan from the Canimex Group, of Drummondville, Quebec.