Patrick Baton
Conductor
Patrick Baton studies at the University of Liege, Belgium (MA and teacher’s degree in Philosophy and Letters), and specializes in Italian language and literature at the University of Siena in Tuscany, Italy.
At the Royal Music Conservatory of Liège, he obtains a number of prizes, among which those for piano, harmony writing, harmony practice on keyboard, history of music, and those of choir conductor and orchestra conductor (First prize with a distinction in the Master Class of Roger Rossel, Prize of the Vocation). He is awarded an ‘excellence’ prize for singing -melody and opera- at the Music Academy of Eupen, Belgium, in the class of Walter Meessen. He also attends the course of Lucien Jean-Baptiste at the Conservatory of Toulon, France (Gold medal and, in addition, First Prize in the proficiency level for conductors in the specialization lyrics and opera, together with master classes in interpretation given by the French tenor Jean Giraudeau).
As a choir conductor, he was chosen as assistant by Philippe Herreweghe for the ‘Choeur Philharmonique de Liège’ during two years. He also works on choir direction with Laszlo Heltay (Academy of St Martin in the Fields) and Michel Piquemal, and on the present-day practice with Guy Reibel. As an orchestra conductor, he attends the proficiency courses of René Defossez, Alexandre Myrat, Daniel Gazon. He studies in France and Germany with Sergiu Celibidache. After the Budapest competition, where the Russian conductor Youri Simonov had been impressed by his outstanding performance, the two men worked together in Hungary.
In 1991 Patrick Baton is laureate of the Masterplayers International Conductors Competition in the Schauspielhaus of Berlin, where he conducted the Berliner Sinfonie Orchester. In 1994 he is awarded the St-Petersburg Special Composers’ Prize at the first International Sergei Prokofjev Competition for conductors. This leads him on to regular performances as a conductor in Russia, and he becomes the first guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Northern Caucasus in the South of Russia (Kislovodsk). He gives performances in Belgium (Orchestre National de Belgique), France, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Italy, Israel.
Patrick Baton regularly works with the ‘Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège et de la Communauté française de Belgique’: they have now been producing together for six seasons running a cycle of concerts that enjoy a tremendous success under the general title ‘L’Orchestre à la portée des enfants’ (The orchestra at a child’s level) , with the cooperation of the ‘Jeunesses musicales` (Youth Music) and with the participation of the actors Marie Gillain, Benoît Poelvoorde, Bruno Coppens, and of the singer Maurane, and also with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie. In 1996, Patrick Baton conducted this orchestra in the finals of the International Adolphe Sax contest organised in Dinant, Belgium, which is the birthplace of Sax. He also performs for the’Festival de Wallonie’ and a number of other festivals: Val-Dieu, Aubel, Roisin...
Since his debut with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in 1993 (la Traviata), he very often conducts there: Tosca (Puccini) with the Belgian baritone José van Dam (recorded on Philips CDI video), la Traviata once again (in a production of Martha Domingo), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Stiffelio (Verdi), the ballets Spartacus (Khatchaturian), Casse-Noisette (Tchaikovsky), Coppélia (Delibes). Baton, who is genuinely eclectic, conducts the Viennese operette and the musical with equal success: Hello Dolly! (Hermann), Candide (Bernstein), Fürstin Czardas (Kalmann), L’Homme de la Mancha (Leigh/Wasserman, French adaptation by Jacques Brel) with José Van Dam as Don Quijote (Liege, Brussels; CD audio live, Forlane; transmission by Arte television). He makes his debut with the ‘Opéra d’Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse’. He joins that opera house again as a guest conductor and conducts the French première of the American musical Titanic (Yeston), which will be remembered as an unqualified success. He conducts the Carmina Burana (Orff) at the Arts Festival of Tel Aviv, a concert that was broadcast by the National Television of Israel.
In concert he accompanies numerous opera singers as Julia Migenes, José Van Dam, Alain Fondary, Jules Bastin ...
As artistic director of the Orchestre Artemis, he is in charge of the Summer Opera Festival (la Traviata) in several prestigious historic sites of Belgium (the castle of La Hulpe, the Palace of Princes-Bishops in Liege, the castle of Ooidonck).
He conducts at the ‘Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’ (Rossini’s Cenerentola) and, in Italy the ‘Orchestra Haydn Bolzano-Trento’, the ‘Orchestra della città di Grosseto’, the ‘Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo’ in a serie of concerts in Liguria, Lombardy and Tuscany. Since 2001, he’s regular guest conductor at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte-Carlo (2001-2016). During three seasons he was on tour with the World Chamber Choir, at the Opera de Rouen, at the Great Theatre of Luxemburg (Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Francis Poulenc), the Niedersachser Jugendchor Hanover (Brahms "Ein deutsches Requiem"). He has recorded for different producers: Philips, Forlane, Syrinx and Cyprès.
Patrick Baton has been officially in charge at the Liege Royal Conservatory of Music since 1996 at the conductor’s rostrum and as a teacher in the conductors` training course. He’s teaching orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire Régional d’Amiens (France), and at the Ecole Supérieure Danse et Musique-Conservatoire de Lille (France, 2017-2018)
At the Royal Music Conservatory of Liège, he obtains a number of prizes, among which those for piano, harmony writing, harmony practice on keyboard, history of music, and those of choir conductor and orchestra conductor (First prize with a distinction in the Master Class of Roger Rossel, Prize of the Vocation). He is awarded an ‘excellence’ prize for singing -melody and opera- at the Music Academy of Eupen, Belgium, in the class of Walter Meessen. He also attends the course of Lucien Jean-Baptiste at the Conservatory of Toulon, France (Gold medal and, in addition, First Prize in the proficiency level for conductors in the specialization lyrics and opera, together with master classes in interpretation given by the French tenor Jean Giraudeau).
As a choir conductor, he was chosen as assistant by Philippe Herreweghe for the ‘Choeur Philharmonique de Liège’ during two years. He also works on choir direction with Laszlo Heltay (Academy of St Martin in the Fields) and Michel Piquemal, and on the present-day practice with Guy Reibel. As an orchestra conductor, he attends the proficiency courses of René Defossez, Alexandre Myrat, Daniel Gazon. He studies in France and Germany with Sergiu Celibidache. After the Budapest competition, where the Russian conductor Youri Simonov had been impressed by his outstanding performance, the two men worked together in Hungary.
In 1991 Patrick Baton is laureate of the Masterplayers International Conductors Competition in the Schauspielhaus of Berlin, where he conducted the Berliner Sinfonie Orchester. In 1994 he is awarded the St-Petersburg Special Composers’ Prize at the first International Sergei Prokofjev Competition for conductors. This leads him on to regular performances as a conductor in Russia, and he becomes the first guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Northern Caucasus in the South of Russia (Kislovodsk). He gives performances in Belgium (Orchestre National de Belgique), France, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Italy, Israel.
Patrick Baton regularly works with the ‘Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège et de la Communauté française de Belgique’: they have now been producing together for six seasons running a cycle of concerts that enjoy a tremendous success under the general title ‘L’Orchestre à la portée des enfants’ (The orchestra at a child’s level) , with the cooperation of the ‘Jeunesses musicales` (Youth Music) and with the participation of the actors Marie Gillain, Benoît Poelvoorde, Bruno Coppens, and of the singer Maurane, and also with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie. In 1996, Patrick Baton conducted this orchestra in the finals of the International Adolphe Sax contest organised in Dinant, Belgium, which is the birthplace of Sax. He also performs for the’Festival de Wallonie’ and a number of other festivals: Val-Dieu, Aubel, Roisin...
Since his debut with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in 1993 (la Traviata), he very often conducts there: Tosca (Puccini) with the Belgian baritone José van Dam (recorded on Philips CDI video), la Traviata once again (in a production of Martha Domingo), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Stiffelio (Verdi), the ballets Spartacus (Khatchaturian), Casse-Noisette (Tchaikovsky), Coppélia (Delibes). Baton, who is genuinely eclectic, conducts the Viennese operette and the musical with equal success: Hello Dolly! (Hermann), Candide (Bernstein), Fürstin Czardas (Kalmann), L’Homme de la Mancha (Leigh/Wasserman, French adaptation by Jacques Brel) with José Van Dam as Don Quijote (Liege, Brussels; CD audio live, Forlane; transmission by Arte television). He makes his debut with the ‘Opéra d’Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse’. He joins that opera house again as a guest conductor and conducts the French première of the American musical Titanic (Yeston), which will be remembered as an unqualified success. He conducts the Carmina Burana (Orff) at the Arts Festival of Tel Aviv, a concert that was broadcast by the National Television of Israel.
In concert he accompanies numerous opera singers as Julia Migenes, José Van Dam, Alain Fondary, Jules Bastin ...
As artistic director of the Orchestre Artemis, he is in charge of the Summer Opera Festival (la Traviata) in several prestigious historic sites of Belgium (the castle of La Hulpe, the Palace of Princes-Bishops in Liege, the castle of Ooidonck).
He conducts at the ‘Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’ (Rossini’s Cenerentola) and, in Italy the ‘Orchestra Haydn Bolzano-Trento’, the ‘Orchestra della città di Grosseto’, the ‘Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo’ in a serie of concerts in Liguria, Lombardy and Tuscany. Since 2001, he’s regular guest conductor at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte-Carlo (2001-2016). During three seasons he was on tour with the World Chamber Choir, at the Opera de Rouen, at the Great Theatre of Luxemburg (Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Francis Poulenc), the Niedersachser Jugendchor Hanover (Brahms "Ein deutsches Requiem"). He has recorded for different producers: Philips, Forlane, Syrinx and Cyprès.
Patrick Baton has been officially in charge at the Liege Royal Conservatory of Music since 1996 at the conductor’s rostrum and as a teacher in the conductors` training course. He’s teaching orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire Régional d’Amiens (France), and at the Ecole Supérieure Danse et Musique-Conservatoire de Lille (France, 2017-2018)