Bernard
Labadie

Guest Conductor

 

Debut
Performance


with Boston Baroque

March 6
2026


Boston Baroque debut


 
 
 

Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the preeminent conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, a reputation closely tied to his work with Les Violons du Roy (for which he served as Music Director from its inception until 2014) and La Chapelle de Québec. With these two ensembles, he has regularly toured Canada, the US, and Europe in major venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, The Barbican, The Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He began a four-year term as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the 2018-19 season.

His interpretation was so rousing, so generous, so lovingly, exquisitely detailed, that it made me fall in love with the work all over again.
— Natasha Gauthier, Artfile

Recent guest conducting highlights include the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society, National Arts Center Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de Lyon, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and NDR Radiophilharmonie.  Mr. Labadie has become a regular presence on the podiums of the major North American orchestras, including the Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, New World and San Francisco symphonies; the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras; the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics; the Handel & Haydn Society; and L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.  International audiences in past seasons have seen and heard Maestro Labadie conduct the Bayerischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, English Concert & Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, BBC Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Collegium Vocale Ghent, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester (Cologne), and Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

His extensive discography includes many critically acclaimed recordings on Dorian, ATMA and Virgin Classics labels, including Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and a collaborative recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, both of which received Canada’s Juno Award. Other recordings include C.P.E. Bach’s complete cello concertos with Truls Mørk and Les Violons du Roy; J.S. Bach’s complete piano concertos with Alexandre Tharaud, both on Virgin Classics; and Haydn’s piano concertos with Marc-Andre Hamelin as soloist, released by Hyperion. He has received Paris’ Samuel de Champlain award, the Canadian government’s “Officer of the Order of Canada”, and his home province has named him “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec”.