20th-century French conductors (music)

Louis Beydts was a French composer, music critic and theatre director, born 29 June 1895 in Bordeaux and died on 15 August 1953 at Caudéran in Gironde.

Laurence Equilbey (born 6 March 1962) is a French conductor, known for her work in the choral repertoire, and more recently as the founder and music director of the Insula Orchestra.Equilbey studied piano and flute in her early life. She undertook formal music education in Paris, Vienna, London and Scandinavia. Her teachers included Eric Ericson, Denise Ham, Colin Metters and Jorma Panula.
Equilbey founded the chamber choir Accentus in 1991, and continues as its music director. With Accentus, she has conducted commercial recordings for such labels as Naïve. In 1995, she founded the Jeune Chœur de Paris, which in 2002 was incorporated as a department of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris. She co-directs the programme with Geoffroy Jourdain. Since the 2009–2010 season, Equilbey has been an associate artist, with Accentus, of the Ensemble orchestral de Paris.
Equilbey invented the "e-tuner", an electronic means of tuning quarter tones and 1/3 tones. Outside of conventional classical music, she is a collaborator in the Private Domain project, which has included work with Émilie Simon, Murcof, Para One, and Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague.
In 2008, Equilbey was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 2012, she founded the Insula Orchestra. One of their goals is to perform the neglected works by historic women composers, such as Louise Farrenc. In July 2021, Erato released their recording of Farrenc's Symphony nos. 1 and 3.

Joseph Bouillon (3 May 1908 – 9 July 1984) was a French composer, conductor and violinist. As Joséphine Baker's fourth husband, he enjoyed prominence in the 1950s.

Pierre Sancan (24 October 1916 – 20 October 2008) was a French composer, pianist, teacher and conductor. Along with Olivier Messiaen and Henri Dutilleux, he was a major figure among French musicians in the mid-twentieth-century transition between modern and contemporary eras; but outside France his name is almost unknown.

Diego Masson (born 21 June 1935) is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist.
The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson was born in Tossa de Mar, Spain. He studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Upon graduation, he joined the Domaine Musical as percussionist and began studying conducting with the group's director, Pierre Boulez. In 1966 he formed Musique Vivante, a group specializing in contemporary music which he still directs. Musique Vivante has introduced many important compositions by French and foreign composers, in particular the music of Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1969 Masson conducted the world première of Stockhausen's Stop, which is dedicated to him, and the group also took part in the premières of "Setz die Segel zur Sonne" from Aus den sieben Tagen and the 1972 version of Momente.In addition to conducting specialist new-music groups like the Asko Ensemble, Xenakis Ensemble, the Composers Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Alternance, Ensemble Modern, and Musik Fabrik, he has worked with major orchestras including all the BBC Orchestras, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Collegium Academicum of Geneva, Helsinki Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the New Zealand Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.He is also an acclaimed conductor of opera and ballet. He was music director of the Ballet-Théâtre Contemporain of Amiens from its formation in 1968. In 1972 it moved to Angers, where it was combined with the opera company as the Théâtre Musical d'Angers under Masson's direction. He left in 1975 to become music director of Marseille Opera (until 1981) where, amongst other things, he conducted a Ring cycle. He has been guest conductor with opera companies including Opera North, Scottish Opera and the Aspen Festival. He co-conducted (with Patrick Bailey) the UK premiere of Luigi Nono's Prometeo at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 9 and 10 May 2008.Masson has also worked extensively with youth orchestras: in the UK regularly at Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, and as guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Chetham's School of Music; in the US with the Juilliard Orchestra; and in Australia with the Australian Youth Orchestra. He held conducting masterclasses every year at Dartington International Summer School from 1983 to 2010.
His activities as a composer and arranger were mainly from the early part of his career and included film scores composed for Équivoque 1900 (1966), and two Louis Malle projects, the "William Wilson" segment of the Edgar Allan Poe triptych Histoires extraordinaires (1968), and Black Moon (1975), for which he adapted music by Wagner. He was music director for the latter, as well as for the 1996 French/German television Beethoven biopic La Musique de l'amour: Un amour inachevé.

Marcel Just Théodore Marie Couraud (20 October 1912 in Limoges – 14 September 1986 in Loches) was a French orchestral and choral conductor and organist.

Michel Colombier (23 May 1939 – 14 November 2004) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor.

Roger Jean Boutry (27 February 1932 – 7 September 2019) was a French composer and conductor.

Olivier Georges Alain (3 August 1918 – 28 February 1994) was a French organist, pianist, musicologist and composer.

François Rauber (19 January 1933 – 14 December 2003) was a French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor known for his works with chansonnier Jacques Brel. He served as the music director for the 1975 film Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.
Rauber was born in Neufchâteau, Vosges and studied music at the Nancy Conservatoire and the Conservatoire de Paris.Rauber is also the composer of the Napoleonic March in the Colonel Chabert French movie by Yves Angelo.
In 1979 Rauber was awarded the Grand Prize for Light Symphonic Music. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he worked extensively with Portuguese singer-songwriter Fernando Tordo and served as arranger and conductor in some of his records. In 2003, he was awarded the Chanson Française Grand Prize.