Jean-François Verdier is one of the most interesting personalities on the French music scene, being a soloist, conductor, artistic director, teacher, and composer for young people.
Trained at the Paris Conservatoire, he was a prize winner, in several disciplines, at the international competitions of Tokyo, Antwerp, Vienna, Lugano, and Colmar.
As principal clarinetist in the Paris Opera Orchestra, he has played under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, Valeryi Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Barenboim, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Kent Nagano et al.
As a conductor, he was Kent Nagano’s assistant in Paris, then Philippe Jordan’s in Vienna. He has since conducted the Opéra Bastille, Munich Radio Orchestra, the Bolshoi in Moscow, the Wiener Symphoniker, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo City Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic, OFUNAM of Mexico City, Salerno Opera, Capitole de Toulouse, Rouen Opera, and the French national orchestras of Lyon, Metz, Nantes, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Cannes… Conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon from 2007 to 2010, since 2010 he has been director of the Orchestre Victor Hugo, with which he recorded several critically acclaimed discs.
He collaborates with artists such as Karine Deshayes, Susan Graham, Sandrine Piau, Thomas Hampson, Ludovic Tézier, Jodie Devos, Isabelle Faust, Sergei Nakariakov, François Leleux, Valeriy Sokolov, Edicson Ruiz, Jean-François Heisser, Andy Emler, Baptiste Trotignon, Paul Meyer, Olivier Py, Michel Fau, Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker et al.
He teaches clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire and, since 2019, orchestral conducting at the Burgundy College of Music (ESM Bourgogne).
He is a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.
Since 2012, he has composed several musical tales (on texts by Bernard Friot, Vincent Cuvelier, Isabelle Gély), an opera-for young people (on a libretto by Dorian Astor) and musical pieces intended for children and young people, a field that fascinates him and which he deems absolutely essential in today’s musical life.
His pieces have quickly become known and recorded, played with great success by the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Dessau Opera, Bavarian Radio in Munich, Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Metz, Rouen Opera, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Victor Hugo, Orchestre Régional de Normandie, Orchestre Régional Basque, Klarthe Quintet, the Besançon International Festival, the Crans-Montana-Classics Festival, Debussy International Competition of Paris…
All his works are published by Billaudot, with the exception of Amazonian Dreams (Klarthe, commissioned by the Klarthe Quintet, CD ”French Connexion”).