The French choral conductor, Jean-Marie Puissant, studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson, and then orchestral conducting in France (Paris-Sorbonne University), Switzerland, Hungary and Italy. He was also a singer under the direction of the greatest maestros such as Philippe Herreweghe, William Christie, Michel Corboz, Pierre Boulez, John Eliot Gardiner, Claudio Abbado, Kent Nagano, Bertini, Daniel Barenboim, Carlo Maria Giulini.
Jean-Marie Puissant is Music Director of the Choeur National des Jeunes, the Quatuor Féminin de Paris and the Choeur Sorbonne Nouvelle. He has been the coordinator of 76 Parisian college choirs for 15 years and assistant to William Christie in 1995. He is currently Artistic Director of Choeur Variatio, Choeur Nicolas de Grigny and Ensemble de Solistes Allegri.
Jean-Marie Puissant has conducted several prestigious orchestras including the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France, Savaria Szimfonikus Zenekar of Hungary, Philharmonique de Lorraine, Orchestre Paris-Sorbonne, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Reims, or Orchestre Lamoureux. Several renowned artists have worked under his direction: Quatuor Parisii, Quatuor Arpeggione, Françoise Pollet, Nora Gubisch, Christiane Legrand, Mark Foster, Dominique Visse, Marie-Josèphe Jude.
Eclectic, Jean-Marie Puissant approaches the lyrical repertoire (Carmen, Faust, musicals comedies by Leonard Bernstein, Joubert or Gershwin) as well as the sacred repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary. He was engaged several times by the Opéra de Reims, where he interprets works of Haydn, Prokofiev, W.A. Mozart ... Many festivals invite him as a conductor, jury member of international competitions or master-classes both in France and abroad (Israel, Slovenia, Russia, Estonia, Portugal, China).
A Diapason d'Or in 2007 was awareded for the recording of the works of Pierné realized with the Choeur Nicolas de Grigny and the Orchestre National de Lorraine under the direction of Jacques Mercier. Several international productions call on him to conduct the choruses at exceptional events at the Stade de France: Operas Nabucco and Aïda by Verdi (2008 and 2010) and Rolling Stones show (2014). |