Franćois-Xavier Roth, born in 1971, graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he studied flute (with A. Marion), chamber music, musical analysis, and conducting (with J. Fürst).
In 2000, he shared with Pablo Gonzalez the First Prize at the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London. This accolade won him an instant appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre de Caen as well as a two-year contract as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
He has worked with many orchestras including the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse,
the Orchestre National de Lyon,
the Orchestre National de Lille,
the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Ensemble InterContemporain, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestra of the Marijsky Theatre. His extensive repertoire spans music from Lully to Boulez. In 2003 he founded the ‘Les SiŹcles’ Orchestra’, which specializes in French Baroque and the classical repertoire. He is its Musical Director.
In the field of opera, Franćois-Xavier Roth served as assistant to Sir John Eliot Gardiner for several years (Verdi’s Falstaff and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini and Les Troyens). In 2002, he conducted Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the ThéČtre de Caen with director (dir. Yannis Kokkos and Franćois Le Roux). He has worked with many famous singers including Renée Flemnig, Ben Heppner, Cecilia Bartoli, and Juan Diego Florez.
His honours include the ‘5 Diapasons’ Award for his debut cd Clarinet Music 1950 with Ensemble Jean Wiéner (works by R.Strauss, Nielsen, Lutosławski, Copland).
Since 2003 Franćois-Xavier Roth has been on the faculty of the Paris Conservatory, teaching the introduction to orchestral conducting. In 2003 he participated in the educational tv series ‘Simple comme musique’ (France 5, dir. Pierre Charvet), conducting the Orchestre de Caen and talking about many aspects of music.