Leonardo García Alarcón Conductor

Leonardo García Alarcón was born in La Plata (Argentina) in 1976 and moved to Europe in 1997. In addition to his theoretical training at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva, he studied the harpsichord under Christiane Jaccottet at the conservatory there. A conductor, harpsichordist and teacher of the “maestro al cembalo” class at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, Leonardo García Alarcón has won acclaim from audiences and critics of the specialized press for his rediscovery of previously unknown works and for his innovative interpretations of familiar repertoire works. In 2005, he created his own ensemble, the Cappella Mediterranea. Since 2010, he has also been artistic director and principal conductor of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur. Between 2010 and 2013 he was artist in residence at the Cultural Meeting Centre in Ambronay. The restaging of Cavalli’s opera Elena at the 2013 Aix Festival earned him invitations to perform as a conductor and a harpsichordist in theatres around the world including the Montpellier, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Lille Operas, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2015, he created the Millenium Orchestra in Belgium. He opened the Paris Opera’s 2016-2017 season with Eliogabalo, and then conducted Il Giasone in Geneva, Erismena at the 2017 Aix Festival, the Sasha Walz production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Berlin Staatsoper in November 2018, Antonio Draghi’s El Prometeo and Francesco Sacrati’s La Finta Pazza at the Dijon Opera and, more recently, Charpentier’s Médée at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva. His discography has earned unanimous critical acclaim. In September 2016, Leonardo García Alarcón recorded I 7 Peccati Capitali on Alpha Classic, an imaginative programme based on the airs of Monteverdi. The work was highly acclaimed in the press and earned a nomination for Best Recording at the 2017 Victoires de la Musique. In 2018, he recorded works by Lully, Jacques Arcadelt and Joan Manuel Serrat. In February 2019, Alpha Classics released Il Giasone on DVD. Leonardo García Alarcón is currently an artist in residence at the Dijon Opera.