Conductor Raphael Pichon Makes Delayed New York Debut At Age 40

Raphael Pichon was at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with his Ensemble Pygmalion orchestra and chorus on March 12, 2020, catching a plane to New York for his U.S. debut nine days later at the Park Avenue Armory in Monteverdi's "Marian Vespers."

First the flight was delayed. Then it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"In the middle of the night they closed the skies," the conductor said.

His American debut was delayed until December 2021 with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. He makes first New York appearance at age 40 on Thursday night, leading the Orchestra of St. Luke's in a program with baritone Christian Gerhaher and soprano Ying Fang titled "Mein Traum My Dream" featuring works by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Carl Maria von Weber.

"I think he's really the future of classical music," said James Roe, the St. Luke's orchestra president. "He sees the potential of the concert experience in a way that's both expansive and welcoming and of the next generation. And he wants the concerts to propose a story, a narrative, an odyssey, a way of moving an audience member from their everyday life to something extraordinarily pleasurable."