As one of the most prominent conductors and composers of his generation, Michel Tabachnik was the Music Director for the Brussels Phiharmonic until June 2015, and continues today as their Conductor Emeritus.

He receives numerous invitations from leading institutions and orchestras such as the SWR Stuttgart, Konzerthaus Berlin, the orchestra of La Fenice in Venice, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Budapest-Festival Orchestra, The RAI Orchestra of Turino, The Orchestre de Paris, as well as festivals such as Lucerne and Salzburg. He performed three times during the inaugural season of the new Paris Philharmonic.

Having studied piano, composition and conducting in Geneva, his talents were immediately recognized by Herbert von Karajan, who regularly invited him to conduct his Berliner Philharmoniker, Igor Markevitch, for whom he was assistant to the Spanish Radio Television Orchestra in Madrid, and as Pierre Boulez’s assistant for four years, mainly with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. These important collaborations brought Tabachnik even closer to contemporary music and eminent composers such as Stockhausen, Berio, Ligeti and Messiaen.

He has conducted more than 100 world premieres, among them at least 20 by Iannis Xenakis, who always regarded him as his “favorite performer”. In addition to his own success as an internationally recognized composer and author, several of Tabachnik’s works have recently been premiered including the Prélude à la légende at the Besançon Festival, the Violin Concerto with the Brussels Philharmonic, Le livre de Job at the Cité de la musique in Paris and finally, in 2019, Sumer, his cello concerto performed by Gautier Capuçon. His music is described as “quite personal music, with poetic sense, singular, and a delicate balance between objectivity and romanticism”. Michel Tabachnik’s works are are published by the great publishing houses, especially Ricordi, Durand and Salabert.

In the operatic field Michel Tabachnik has conducted in the opera houses of Paris, Geneva, Zürich, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Rome, Montreal, Genova, Bolshoi Theater. He has been a regular guest with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, where he led, among other works, Lohengrin, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, The Rake’s Progress. In March 2016 the Opéra de Lyon staged the world premiere of Tabachnik’s own opera Benjamin – dernière nuit based on a libretto by Régis Debray.

HIs dedication to young musicians has led Maestro Tabachnik to conduct several international youth orchestras having served as Artistic Director of l’Orchestre des Jeunes du Québec (1985-1989) and, over a twelve year period, l’Orchestre des Jeunes de Méditerrannée which he founded in 1984. As a respected pedagogue Michel Tabachnik has given numerous Master Classes in Hilversum, Lisbon (the Gulbenkian Foundation), Paris, Brussels and Stockholm conservatories. He has held the position of Professor of Conducting at both the Faculty of Music,University of Toronto (1984-1991), and the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen (1993-2001).

Michel Tabachnik has many recordings on the Erato and Lyrinx labels. His discography reflects the versatility of his repertoire, which ranges from Beethoven, Bruckner and Wagner to Honegger, Xenakis and Boulez. Swiss Radio’s international jury voted his recording of Schumann’s Piano Concerto (with Catherine Collard) “best performance of this work”. His recording of Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps (2013) received a Gramophone Award, and his recording of Claude Debussy’s La Mer was “number 1” by both Classica magazine and Radio France.