Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, based in the Principality of Monaco, has announced the appointment of Nathalie Stutzmann as Artistic and Music Director from September 2026.
Stutzmann will succeed Kazuki Yamada, Artistic and Musical Director of the OPMC since 2016, whose contract ends in August 2026 when he becomes Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Stutzmann will become the 19th Artistic and Musical Director of the OPMC since its creation in 1856 and the first woman to hold this position.
The appointment, which will be for an initial period of four years, is the culmination of a long-standing collaboration between Stutzmann and the OPMC, which she has conducted both in opera and in the concert hall in recent seasons. In 2014, she was promoted to the rank of Officer in the Order of Cultural Merit of the Principality of Monaco.
Nathalie Stutzmann is currently the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, only the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra, and in November renewed her contract for a further three years. She was Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 2021 to 2024. In 2023, she was only the second woman to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival in its 150 year history.
Stutzmann began her musical career as a contralto, pursuing a career in conducting in the early 2000s, and occasionally combining the two. She was mentored by the renowned Finnish conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula, as well as by Seija Ozawa and Sir Simon Rattle.
“I am deeply honoured to join the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo as its next Music and Artistic Director,” said Stutzmann at the press conference to announce her appointment, attended by Princess Caroline of Monaco, Chair of the Board of Directors. “My collaboration with the orchestra started ten years ago, and we have been developing a beautiful complicity and joy to make music together during those years. I look forward to exploring musical horizons and continuing to share our passion for excellence with the audiences of Monaco and showcasing the OPMC on the world stage.”
