Jun Märkl is a highly respected interpreter of core Germanic repertoire and is renowned for his refined and idiomatic explorations of the French Impressionists. His long-standing relationships with the state operas of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Semperoper Dresden and the MET have been complemented by his music directorships of the Orchestre National de Lyon and MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig. He was Chief Conductor of the Basque National Orchestra from 2014 to 2017. He guest conducts leading orchestras in North America, Asia and Europe. In recognition of his achievements in Lyon, he was honoured with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012.

 

He has an extensive discography of 50 CDs; among them are the complete Schumann symphonies with the NHK Symphony; Mendelssohn and Wagner with MDR; and Ravel, Messaien and a highly-acclaimed Debussy set with the Orchestre National de Lyon. He is working on a cycle of works of Saint-Saëns and Hosokawa.

 

Born in Munich, Märkl won the conducting competition of the Deutsche Musikrat in 1986 and studied at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Soon he had a string of appointments in European opera houses followed by his first music directorships at the Staatstheater in Saarbrücken and the Mannheim Nationaltheater.