Marc Minkowski initially studied the bassoon before turning to conducting at a very young age. He attended the academy of Maestro Charles Bruck and, at the age of just 19, founded the ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre, of which he remains the artistic director to this day. The ensemble initially focused on revitalizing Baroque performance practices, soon expanded its interest to French composers, and eventually broadened its repertoire to include works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Offenbach, Bizet, and Wagner. Today, Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre regularly tour across Europe and around the world. He last appeared with Music of the Baroque in January 2025.
As a guest conductor, Marc Minkowski is frequently invited to perform at many of the world’s most prestigious opera stages, including the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Zurich Opera House, the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Salzburg Festival. He collaborates with leading orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Dresden Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, as well as period instrument and historically informed ensembles such as the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Music of the Baroque in Chicago, and the English Baroque Soloists.
In the 2025-26 season, Marc Minkowski will conduct several opera productions, including new productions of Robinson Crusoe at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, and La clemenza di Tito at the Zurich Opera House. He will also return to the Berlin State Opera ‘Unter den Linden’ for Così fan tutte. With his orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, he will present concert performances of Handel’s Orlando in Paris and Spain.
The season will be further enriched by a series of concert engagements. With Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski will go on tour in Switzerland with a program dedicated to Offenbach and will also appear at the Musikfest Bremen and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.
As a guest conductor, Marc Minkowski will return to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence with Handel’s The Seasons, make his debut with Boston Baroque—one of the most renowned period-instrument ensembles in the United States—with a New Year’s concert, and will conduct a symphony concert at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.
Significant recent opera projects include a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, Le nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni at the Berlin State Opera; a staged production of Haydn’s The Creation at the Cologne Opera; and a European tour with Les Musiciens du Louvre featuring concert performances of Die Fledermaus.
Marc Minkowski is also recognized as a passionate advocate for classical music. In addition to founding Les Musiciens du Louvre, he launched the Ré Majeure Festival in 2011. He served as General Director of the Opéra National de Bordeaux from 2016 to 2021, was Artistic Director of the Mozart Week in Salzburg from 2013 to 2017, and Artistic Advisor to Japan’s Ensemble Kanazawa from 2018 to 2022, with whom he still maintains a close collaboration. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of the French Legion of Honour.
