Jean-Paul Penin


Jean-Paul Penin is a French conductor.

Biography

Jean-Paul Penin is a graduate of the Strasbourg Conservatory of Music and the University of Strasbourg where he obtained a PhD. in biophysics in 1974 and a Master's degree in musicology in 1978. He went on to the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique where he studied musicology with Yves Gérard in 1978. He was a Fulbright scholar in 1979 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied analysis with John Coolidge Adams and obtained a M.A. in conducting.
In 1979, Penin won an award at the international Tokyo Min-On Competition. From 1980 to 1981 he was Alain Lombard's assistant at the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and from 1982 to 1984 Lorin Maazel's assistant at the Vienna Staatsoper. He was the principal guest conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kraków Philharmonic from 1989 to 1993.
In May 1986, Penin stepped in with just one night's notice, for a live Dutch radio symphony concert. Again, in 1990, when he was just back from a Russian tour, he performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, for the Dutch première of Olivier Messiaen's piano concerto La Ville d'en haut, in the presence of the composer,. This had been premièred by Pierre Boulez in New York one year before..
Penin was given the exclusive rights by Bärenreiter for the French première of Berlioz's Messe Solennelle, which had lately been discovered. He recorded the work, and was invited to conduct the work all over the world, including the Teatro Colón in Buenos-Aires in May 1998 and at the Santander International Festival in 2003.
In September 2000, he was invited to Prague for the Dvořák Festival, with the National Radio-Symphony Orchestra. Following this concert, he was invited to tour with the orchestra. Three years in a row, the Concertgebouw series invited him for tour concerts.
One of his concerts.

Official awards

Poland : Merit National Order : Officer
France : National Arts et lettres Order : Chevalier

Compositions

Jean-Paul Penin is praised by the musical press for his interest for forgotten masterpieces.