François-Xavier Roth

Conductor François-Xavier Roth stands among France’s most active and adaptable figures in the orchestral sphere during the 21st century, balancing engagements on modern instruments with historically informed projects. He directs the period-instrument ensemble Les Siècles, which presents performances of repertory spanning the 17th through the 20th century according to the practices of each era.

Born in Paris on November 6, 1971, Roth is the son of the noted organist Daniel Roth. He began as a flutist, enrolling at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique to study with Alain Marion, before changing course to pursue conducting lessons with János Fürst. After capturing first prize in the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2000, he served a two-year term as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Around the same time he assisted John Eliot Gardiner, an experience that directed his attention toward early music. In 2003 he established Les Siècles, an orchestra distinctive for extending historical-performance techniques to scores composed as late as the 20th century. The group has appeared across continental Europe, Britain, and Japan; in 2013, marking the centenary of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, it presented that score on period instruments at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and at the BBC Proms. Les Siècles maintains an extensive holdings of historic instruments drawn from successive epochs.

Roth simultaneously built a presence with traditional symphony orchestras. His first recording, issued in 2005, featured the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in music by Jean-Louis Agobet (1968–). He subsequently directed the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège. In 2010 he became the last music director of Germany’s SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg prior to its incorporation into the SWR Symphonieorchester. Appointed Generalmusikdirektor of Cologne in 2014, he assumed leadership of both the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Cologne Opera, posts he retained through at least 2022. In 2017 he added the principal conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra.

His discography, encompassing all the ensembles with which he has worked, is extensive. After an initial release on Timpani he recorded for Hänssler and Actes Sud; since 2017 he has worked with Harmonia Mundi, issuing in 2020 a period-instrument account with Les Siècles of Ravel’s La Valse and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic Roth remained unusually productive, completing eighteen albums between 2020 and 2023. Among them was a Harmonia Mundi recording of Ravel’s Boléro and L’heure espagnole performed on historical instruments; in the former work Roth adhered to the composer’s directive that the tempo remain unchanging.