From September 2025, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (OPRL) will have a new leader: 38-year-old French conductor Lionel Bringuier. He succeeds Gergely Madaras and becomes the tenth music director in the orchestra's history. Bringuier first conducted the OPRL in 2021 and felt, according to his own words, immediately "at home" in the warm, transparent sound of the ensemble. His official inaugural season 2025-2026, strikingly titled Lionel Bringuier : la passion en commun, promises considerable renewal.
An impressive track record
Bringuier was on the world's highest podium at nineteen when he won the International Conducting Competition in Besançon. Three years later, he was assistant to Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958) and Gustavo Dudamel (1981) at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Since then, he has worked with the top of the international classical world – experience he now wants to use to place the OPRL "among the best orchestras of the moment."
Programming full of French and Russian colours
The opening season immediately highlights the shared core repertoire lines. French masters receive ample attention, including Boléro (1928) and La valse (1920) by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), the Third Symphony (1930) by Albert Roussel (1869-1937) and scores by Paul Dukas (1865-1935), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). The Russian connection takes shape through Symphony No. 4 (1878) by Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjaikovski (1840-1893), Petrushka (1911) by Igor Stravinski (1882-1971) and Romeo and Juliet (1935-36) by Sergej Prokofjev (1891-1953).
Romanticism and contemporary music are also not lacking, with Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958) and Manfred Trojahn (1949). Bringuier invites friendly soloists: Hélène Grimaud, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Gaëlle Arquez and Jean-Yves Thibaudet are on the programme. International tours take the orchestra to the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, the Philharmonie in Cologne and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
"Nouveaux classiques" – New sounds in Liège
A striking innovation is the "Nouveaux classiques" series: the Salle Philharmonique becomes a platform for the contemporary Modern Classical movement. In it, Max Richter (1966) features alongside Belgian Echo Collective and the Elori Saxl Quartet. Additionally, two Belgian and two foreign guest orchestras continue to broaden horizons, while the entire season structure is reorganised into more clearly defined series.
Strong ties to the community
The OPRL emphasises its social role with two participatory projects: a new Walloon opera by Patrick Leterme and a large-scale birthday project with 160 pupils from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles to mark 85 years of Jeunesses Musicales. Notably, approximately 36% of all activities are educational and school-related.
Musicians at the centre
A new house style, in which the musicians themselves play the leading visual role, is to help the public navigate through no fewer than 229 events – including 120 public concerts. The OPRL itself organises 87 concerts: 61 in Liège and 26 spread across Brussels, Namur, Bergen, Charleroi, Turnhout, Ath and other cities.
With a carefully balanced mix of familiar masterworks, modern classical and original creations, and with Lionel Bringuier as an energetic captain, the OPRL seems ready to write a new, passionate chapter in its rich tradition.