Ludovic Morlot
PHOTO BY LISA MARIE MAZZUCCO

Two decades later, French conductor Ludovic Morlot will return to Hancock’s Monteux School and Music Festival to celebrate the world-renowned program’s 75th anniversary this summer.

The distinguished conductor, who currently directs the Seattle Symphony and heads orchestral conducting studies at the University of Washington, will conduct Debussy’s “Jeux” at the 2018 Monteux Festival’s July 22 Memorial Concert. The festival’s founder and famed conductor Pierre Monteux premiered “Jeux” in Paris in 1913.

Morlot knows the Monteux School and its faculty well, having studied conducting there over four summers during the mid-1990s. Since then, he has had a highly successful career in the United States and Europe. He has conducted nearly all the major European orchestras from the Berliner Philharmoniker to the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Morlot has particularly strong ties with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having been Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor in 2001 at Tanglewood and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and its Music Director James Levine (2004-2007).

During the 2018 season, which kicks off at 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, the Monteux School’s music director, Michael Jinbo, will conduct the Monteux Festival Orchestra. The other guest artists include Oregon-based composer, conductor and pianist William White, New York violin soloist and conductor Ming-Feng Hsin, Louisville, Ky.-based violinist and composer Gabriel Lefkowitz. Violinist Tiffany Lu will serve as conducting associate.

To learn more about the Monteux School and its 2018 concerts, call 460-0313, email pierremonteuxschool@gmail.com and visit moneuxschool.org.