20th-century French conductors (music)

Ernest Bour (20 April 1913 - 20 June 2001) was a noted conductor. Born in Thionville, Moselle (in north-eastern Lorraine, then part of Germany), Bour studied at both the University and the Conservatoire of Strasbourg. His conducting teachers included Fritz Münch and Hermann Scherchen.
Perhaps his most heard recording is of Ligeti's Atmospheres with the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra aka Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden heard on the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
After serving as chorus master for the radio choruses of Geneva and Strasbourg, he was appointed conductor of the Orchestre de Mulhouse in 1941. In 1950, he became conductor of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1955 of the Strasbourg Opera House, where he had conducted the premiere of Delannoy's Puck in 1949. He was principal conductor of the SWF Symphony Orchestra in Baden-Baden from 1964 to 1979. He conducted the European premiere of Berio's Sinfonia during the 1969 Donaueschingen Festival by the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1976 until 1987, he was permanent guest conductor of The Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra located in the VARA radio headquarters in Hilversum.Bour's repertoire was marked by a concentration on contemporary music. World premières he presided over included works by Bussotti, Ferneyhough, Górecki, Ligeti, Rihm, Stockhausen and Xenakis, and he gave the French premières of Hindemith's Symphony Mathis der Maler and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress and the European premiere of Susman's Trailing Vortices. His recordings ranged from music of François Couperin to André Jolivet.Bour died in Strasbourg, aged 88.

Antonio de Almeida (20 January 1928 – 18 February 1997) was a French conductor and musicologist of Portuguese-American descent.
Born Antonio Jacques de Almeida Santos in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, his father was the financier Baron de Almeida Santos of Lisbon, his mother was the former Barbara Tapper of Highland Park near Chicago. His godfather was pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

René-Emmanuel Baton, known as Rhené-Baton (5 September 1879 – 23 September 1940), was a French conductor and composer. Though born in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, his family originated in Vitré in neighbouring Brittany. He returned to the region at the age of 19, and many of his compositions express his love of the area. He also had close relationships with composers of the Breton cultural renaissance, notably Guy Ropartz, Paul Le Flem, Paul Ladmirault and Louis Aubert. As a conductor he was notable for his attempts to expand appreciation of classical music.

Jean-Claude Probst (born 7 December 1935), known professional as Jean-Claude Casadesus, is a French conductor.

Franck Pourcel (14 August 1913 – 12 November 2000) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor of popular and classical music.

Sylvain Cambreling (born 2 July 1948 in Amiens, France) is a French conductor.

Louis de Froment (French: [də fʁɔmɑ̃]; 5 December 1921 – 19 August 1994) was a French conductor.
Froment was born into a French noble family in Toulouse, and started his musical studies at the city conservatory. He later attended the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique (CNSM) of Paris and was a pupil of Louis Fourestier, Eugène Bigot and André Cluytens. In 1948, he received a first prize in conducting.
Louis de Froment served as music director of orchestras at the casinos of Deauville and Cannes. He also worked as head of the permanent chamber orchestra of the radio in Nice (1958–59), of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio-Télé Luxembourg (1958–80), and also conducted the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.
He conducted the première of the Concerto Breve by Xavier Montsalvatge, with Alicia de Larrocha (piano) and the Barcelona Orchestra in 1953, and the opera Les caprices de Marianne by Henri Sauguet at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1954.His recordings include:

C.W. Gluck: Orphée (Janine Micheau (Eurydice); Liliane Berton (L'Amour); Nicolai Gedda (Orphée)). Choeurs du Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Flute: Lucien Lavaillotte, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Pathé DTX 243 (LP)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Le devin du village (Janine Micheau as Colette, Nicolai Gedda as Colin, Michel Roux as the soothsayer) Recorded April 1956. cpo 999 559-2
Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 1, Phaéton, Marche héroïque; Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg Vox Turnabout 37117 (LP issue)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, K. 622; Jacques Lancelot, clarinet; Oiseau Lyre Orchestra Decca DL 50006 (LP issue)
Camille Saint-Saëns, The 5 Piano Concertos, Gabriel Tacchino, piano, the Orchestre de Radio Luxembourg, conducted by Louis de Froment. Brillant classics 2014
Claude Debussy: Khamma; Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg Vox
Reinhold Glière: Harp Concerto in E-flat
Manuel de Falla: Noches en los jardines de España, Concert pour clavecin, flûte, hautbois, clarinette, violon et violoncelle, Fantasía bética; Orchestre de La Radio de Luxemburg; piano: György Sandór; clavecin: Martin Galling. Enregistrement VOX-USA, distribué par MARFER SA Espagne (ref. M.50.298 S), 1981.Froment was the father of one daughter, Marie-José (Mrs Henry-Mamou), by his first wife Reine Gabriel-Fauré. He died in Cannes in 1994, aged 72.

Roger Désormière (French pronunciation: [ʁɔʒe dezɔʁmjɛːʁ]) (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music.

Carlos Salzedo (6 April 1885 – 17 August 1961) was a French harpist, pianist, composer and conductor. His compositions presented the harp as a virtuoso instrument. He influenced many composers with his new ideas for the harp's sounds, and was influential in New York's new music scene through his work leading the International Composers' Guild with Edgard Varèse.
Salzedo started studying at the Paris Conservatory at age nine and won the premier prix in harp and piano when he was just 16. He started his solo recital career at age 18, and was brought to the United States of America six years later, to perform as solo harpist with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He toured extensively with the Trio de Lutèce, with Georges Barrère, flute and Paul Kéfer, cello. After being drafted into the French Army during World War I, Salzedo returned to the United States and continued touring with the trio.
In consultation with Vaslav Nijinsky during a summer in Maine, together they developed a system of esthetic gestures to be used while performing on the harp. Subsequently, he was instrumental in raising money to save Nijinsky by funding his residence in a Swiss Sanatorium. Aside from touring with his trio, he organized The Salzedo Harp Ensemble, utilizing his students, which toured extensively, often in collaboration with singers from the Metropolitan Opera.
He co-founded the International Composers' Guild with Edgard Varèse in 1921, and founded the National Harp Association to promote the harp. In addition to forming a summer harp colony, first in Seal Harbor, then later in Camden, Maine, he founded the harp department at the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924. He continued to teach privately in New York City until his death. He developed new techniques and notations for these techniques, which he used extensively in his compositions after 1919.

Philippe Gaubert (5 July 1879 – 8 July 1941) was a French musician who was a distinguished performer on the flute, a respected conductor and a composer, primarily for the flute.