The French conductor has been TDO’s Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director since 2013. Formerly Music Director of Spoleto Festival USA and Chief Conductor of the National Slovenian Philharmonic, he has held both of those positions with the PKF-Prague Philharmonia since 2015. During TDO’s 2020/2021 Season, Villaume will conduct Joby Talbot’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (world premiere), Verdi’s Don Carlo, and the Viva Diva! Concert. Villaume has triumphed throughout America, leading productions at the Metropolitan Opera and the major companies of Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Santa Fe. He has also appeared at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, all the major French and German houses, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Villaume’s guest-conducting of symphonic repertoire has been hailed with the leading orchestras of Montreal, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, and Boston, as well as those of London, Paris, Munich, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, and Tokyo, among many others. Recent recordings include CDs with Anna Netrebko, Benjamin Bernheim, Andrew von Oeyen, Angela Gheorghiu, and Bryan Hymel.
