Frédéric Chaslin

Frédéric Chaslin (born 1963, in Paris) is a French conductor, composer and pianist. He recently joined the prestigious Music publishing house Universal Edition in Vienna.

The son of an architect, Chaslin studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, piano accompaniment, vocal direction, and orchestration. He later studied at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, where his mentors included Paul von Schilawsky.

In 1989, Chaslin became an assistant conductor to Daniel Barenboim at the Orchestre de Paris and at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1991, he held a similar post with Pierre Boulez at the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1989 to 1991. Boulez gave him his first concerts at an international level in Roma (July 1991) and at the Festival Wien Modern (19 October 1991). Chaslin was music director of the Opera de Rouen from 1991 to 1994. He was chief conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) from 1999 to 2002, between the music directorships of David Shallon and Leon Botstein and again between 2011-2019. From 1999 to 2005, he was a resident conductor of the Vienna State Opera. He served as Generalmusikdirektor of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2005 to 2006.

Chaslin first conducted in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2002. In July 2009, he made his conducting debut at Santa Fe Opera (SFeO), in the first production of La traviata to feature Natalie Dessay as Violetta. In May 2010, SFeO announced the appointment of Chaslin as the company's second chief conductor in its history, effective October 1, 2010, with an initial contract of three years. He resigned his position with SFeO at the end of August 2012.

After making his house debut in the 1996/1997 season, Frédéric Chaslin became a fixture at the Wiener Staatsoper, where within 20 years he conducted more than 200 performances.