François Leleux
„When the space is filled by a conductor and soloist with the outsize charisma and musicianship of the French oboist Francois Leleux, the effect is doubled.“ The Arts Desk
Conductor and oboist François Leleux is celebrated for his irrepressible energy, exuberance, and musical clarity. From the 2025/26 season he will serve as Artistic Director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, and principal guest artist with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. Building on a distinguished career, this has included roles such as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras including hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife.
Leleux’s 2025/26 season highlights include guest appearances with Bamberger Symphoniker, Dresdner Philharmonie, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Staatsorchester Hamburg and Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal.
As an oboist, Leleux has appeared with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, SWR-Symphonieorchester and the Swedish Radio and NHK Symphony orchestras. A dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with long-standing recital partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage, Emmanuel Strosser and his acclaimed Les Vents Français.
Committed to expanding the oboe’s repertoire, Leleux has commissioned works from Nicolas Bacri, Michael Jarrell, Giya Kancheli, Thierry Pécou, Gilles Silvestrini, and Eric Tanguy. In recent seasons, he has premiered Laurent Petitgirard’s oboe concerto SouenWou K’ong (2021/22), Jarrell’s oboe concerto Aquateinte (2016/17), and Thierry Escaich’s Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe, premiered with Lisa Batiashvili and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester as well as the New York Philharmonic. He has most recently recorded Jarrell’s Aquateinte and Escaich’s Double Concerto for Oboe, Violin, and Orchestra for the Pentatone label.
Previous recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser (Warner), Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Münchener Kammerorchester and Emmanuel Pahud . Other releases feature Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss’ Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.
François Leleux is Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
