Frédéric Chaslin is a French conductor, composer and pianist. He recently joined the prestigious Music publishing house Universal Edition in Vienna.
Chaslin studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, piano accompaniment, vocal direction, and orchestration. He later studied at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg
In 1989, Chaslin became an assistant conductor to Daniel Barenboim at the Orchestre de Paris and at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1991, he held a similar post with Pierre Boulez at the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1989 to 1991. Boulez gave him his first concerts at an international level in Roma (July 1991) and at the Festival Wien Modern (19 October 1991). Chaslin was music director of the Opera de Rouen from 1991 to 1994. He was chief conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) from 1999 to 2002, between the music directorships of David Shallon and Leon Botstein. From 1999 to 2020, he was a resident conductor of the Vienna State Opera. He served as Generalmusikdirektor of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2005 to 2006. In 2010, Chaslin was re-appointed to the JSO as its next music director, effective September 2012, with an initial contract of three years.
Chaslin first conducted in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2002. In July 2009, he made his conducting debut at Santa Fe Opera in the first production of La traviata to feature Natalie Dessay as Violetta. In May 2010, Santa Fe Opera announced the appointment of Chaslin as the company’s second chief conductor in its history, effective October 1, 2010, with an initial contract of three years
Chaslin’s compositions include the Chagall Suite for orchestra, Diva Dance for the film The Fifth Element, songs and lieder, and several operas, including adaptations of Wuthering Heights He has also written a book on music, La Musique dans Tous les Sens (scheduled English title, Music in Every Sense), published in 2009.
Chaslin wrote an opera commissioned by Placido Domingo, “Monte Cristo”.
Chaslin recorded several CD’s for Sony, including an album with Sonya Yoncheva, Ludovic Tezier, Aleksandra Kurzak, and for Deutsche Gramophon an album with Benjamin Bernheim.
Chaslin’s first novel, “Being Gustav Mahler”, has been released on October 2 by Fayard Publishing, following his own reconstruction of Mahler’s 10th symphony, which is the theme of the novel. He has also written a succesfull “Theme and 11 variations based on Mahler’s 3rd Symphony” for trombone and orchestra (Universal Edition).
Next season Chaslin will make his Teatro Alla Scala debuts with “La Gioconda”.
