Maxime Pascal
Maxime Pascal has established himself as one of the most brilliant interpreters of 20th-century and contemporary music of his generation. His musical journey has been driven by a passionate exploration of sound, developing an approach in which sound itself lies at the very center of the musical experience.
In 2008, he co-founded Le Balcon, an innovative collective whose amplified concerts allow audiences to immerse themselves “inside the sound.” The ensemble takes its name from the play by Jean Genet, in resonance with themes of representation and embodiment. Having become a major force on the contemporary scene, Le Balcon has embarked on large-scale projects such as the monumental opera Licht by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Pascal regards Licht as the work of his life, which he plans to present in its entirety for Stockhausen’s centenary in 2028. With Le Balcon, he has also conducted Saint François d’Assise by Olivier Messiaen and a vast number of works by Gérard Grisey, Pierre Boulez, Michaël Levinas, Morton Feldman and Fausto Romitelli, as well as numerous world premieres.
A striking presence on the opera stage, he has conducted Gianni Schicchi and L’Heure espagnole by Maurice Ravel at the Opéra national de Paris; Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo by Salvatore Sciarrino and Quartett by Luca Francesconi at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy, Turandot by Giacomo Puccini and Sleepless by Péter Eötvös at the Staatsoper Berlin and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Lulu by Alban Berg and Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns at Tokyo Nikikai Opera. In 2024 he conducted a new production of Innocence by Kaija Saariaho at the Dresden Opera. In the 2025/26 season he will return to La Scala for a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande, conduct Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at the Rome Opera, and La Damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz at Tokyo Nikikai Opera.
He is regularly invited to major international festivals: at the Salzburg Festival, with The Greek Passion by Bohuslav Martinů—voted “Best Production of 2023” by the Oper! Awards—and Three Sisters by Péter Eötvös in 2025; at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he made his debut in 2023 with The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill with Le Balcon and the Comédie-Française, later revived at the Salle Richelieu; at the Wiener Festwochen, with Lulu by Alban Berg; and at the BBC Proms, with the Hallé Orchestra in L’Enfance du Christ by Hector Berlioz.
Maxime Pascal has conducted prestigious orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the SWR Symphonieorchester, the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. As Music Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, he has embarked on a complete Beethoven symphony cycle to be performed over several seasons. In 2025/26 he will also conduct two programs dedicated to Hector Berlioz, as well as Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and works by Felix Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss.
In Septembre 2025, Maxime Pascal has been announced as a Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from the 2026/27 season. Alongside Michele Spotti and Titus Engel (the latter acting as Conductor in Residence), the three conductors will share the leadership position previously held by Sir Donald Runnicles in what the Deutsche Oper is calling a “team-based solution”.