GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is the Music Director Designate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he leads his inaugural season as Music Director in 2025/26. He holds the titles of Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, where he will serve through the 2024/25 season and continue as Artistic Partner for the 2025/26 season.
Cristian Măcelaru appeared at the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony which was broadcast to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. He led the Orchestre National de France and Chœur de Radio France in the performance of the Olympic Anthem as the Olympic Flag was raised beneath the Eiffel Tower. Cristian Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France continue their 2024/25 season in tours throughout France, Germany, South Korea and China. Guest appearances include his debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic and RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin as well as returns with the Wiener Symphoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in Europe. In North America, Cristian Măcelaru leads the Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Cristian Măcelaru’s previous seasons included European engagements with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Berlin and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he was Conductor-in-Residence for three seasons.
In 2020, he received a GRAMMY® Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Cristian Măcelaru is featured on albums including selections by Bartók and Dvořák on Linn Records with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the complete symphonies of Saint-Saëns on Warner Classics with the Orchestre National de France. His most recent release is of Enescu Symphonies and two Romanian Rhapsodies with the Orchestre National de France, released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Born in Timișoara, Romania, Măcelaru excelled on the violin from an early age. He studied in the United States at the Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Miami and with Larry Rachleff at Rice University, as well as at Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival in masterclasses with David Zinman, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury. He was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at age 19. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons.
His international career was launched in 2012 when he was asked to step in for Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During that same year, he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed by the Solti Conducting Award in 2014.