Lionel Gaudin-Villard is a conductor, choral director and creator of immersive musical experiences, developing an artistic approach in which conducting, musical dramaturgy and emotional narration come together to transform each concert into a meaningful journey.

 

Trained at the Conservatories of Bayonne and Bordeaux, he was awarded a First Prize with unanimous distinction in orchestral conducting in 1998. He continued his development with prominent musical personalities such as Hans Graf (Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine), Éliane Lavail, Michel Tranchant, Stéphane Cardon (Orchestre National du Capitole), John Nelson, and Alexander Kantorov.

These influences shaped an artistic identity built on stylistic precision, ensemble cohesion and a deeply communicative conducting style.

 

Between 2000 and 2008, he conducted numerous ensembles across France and Europe — including the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Klassika Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, and the Kammarkor of Stockholm — while collaborating with opera companies and the Friends of the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux.

From early on, he explored what would become his trademark: expressive conducting centred on narrative clarity and the emotional architecture of each program.

 

In 2008, he founded the Orchestre Symphonique de Gironde, a private orchestra dedicated to bringing symphonic music closer to young audiences. Under his artistic direction, the “Mini Concerts” became a groundbreaking educational phenomenon: 750,000 spectators, 1,200 performances, 110 programs, including 70 original creations — an unparalleled initiative in France.

 

A passionate choral conductor, he has led major sacred works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák, Poulenc, Lauridsen and others with ensembles such as Martenot, Résonances, Syrinx, Crech’endo and Intermittence.

He frequently collaborates with Emmanuel Gardeil and the Chants de Garonne company on works by Mozart, Rossini and Bizet, and with the Jeune Ballet d’Aquitaine and Sohrab Chitan Company for numerous young-audience productions.

 

As a committed pedagogue, he shares his experience through classes, masterclasses and participatory orchestral or choral projects, convinced that music is above all a human and collective experience.

 

Deeply engaged in contemporary music, he works with composers of diverse aesthetics — Bruno Alexiu, Sacha Chaban, Sally Galet, Jérémie Voin, Jacques Ballue — and pursues ongoing research into narrative and emotional expression in modern creation.

 

Today, Lionel Gaudin-Villard devotes his work to conducting, thematic artistic creation and the design of Signature Concerts — immersive experiences conceived to reveal the identity of an institution, a place or a work, and to offer audiences a deeply memorable encounter with music.