Born of musician parents, Maxime Pascal began in Carcassonne at an early age his studies on piano and then violin. In 2005 he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris taking classes in composition, musical analysis and orchestration. Very quickly he discovered he wanted to conduct, and signed up for the conducting class of François-Xavier Roth.
In 2008, while still a student, he founded in the orchestra Le Balcon (named after the work by Jean Genet), along with composers Pedro Garcia-Velasquez, Juan-Pablo Carreño and Mathieu Costecalde, the pianist Alphonse Cemin and sound engineer Florent Derex. The speciality of this multifaceted orchestra, playing all types of repertoire, is the complete integration of music with advanced technical sound systems. Maxime Pascal thus developed his personal vision of musical spectacle: that it should be a striking and radical experience for the spectators.
Recently, Maxime Pascal conducted orchestras such as l’orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris, l’Orchestra della Rai, LaVerdi, the Hallé Orchestra and SWR Sinfonieorchester of Baden-Baden und Freiburg. In 2019, he conducted operas at the Southbank Centre (Donnerstag aus Licht with Le Balcon), the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Pelléas et Mélisande) and the Teatro alla Scala (Quartett).
In March 2014, he became the first Frenchman to win the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. Strongly attached to the practice and development of amateur orchestras, he has been since 2008 the musical director of the Impromptu Orchestra, an amateur Parisian orchestra.
Future projects include the continuation of the Licht cycle, Alban Berg’s Lulu (Tokyo Nikikai), Stockhausen’s Inori at the Salzburg Festival, a new production Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise and new pieces composed by Pedro Garcia Velasquez, Arthur Lavandier, Frédéric Blondy and Sivan Eldar.
