The 16th March, 2008 Laurence Dale, stood in for the indisposed conductor, entering the pit of the Civic Johannesburg and conducting the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Aida.

 

Since then, he has conducted  Evian Festival Orchestra, which he created for Les Escales Musicales, the Evian Festival of which he succeeded Rostropovich as artistic director from 2000 till 2013; the chorus and orchestra of the OPERA NATIONAL DE LORRAINE  in Gounod's Ste Cécilia Mass and Elgar's The Music Makers (the French permiere!) the Sinfonia Varsovia in Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Lehar's Graf von Luxemburg suite and the Overture to Rossini's William Tell and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne in Faure's Requiem;  the Philharmonie der Nationen in Elgar's Enigma Variations and Brahms Haydn Variations 

Since then he has conducted the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in Elgar's Sea Pictures with Jennifer Larmore and Brahms' 4th symphony. 

He conducted more Elgar with his majestic 2nd Symphony in Evian, Rachmaninov's 2ndPicano concerto with soloist Francois Weigel, Schumann's Cello Concerto with Maxim Beitan and then Brahms's 4th symphony. In 2013, he conducted the world premiere of Joseph Phibb's symphonic work "Datcha Savoyard-the Evian Variations" commissioned to celebrate the 20th birthday of La Grange au Lac, Evian's wonderful all wooden 1000 seater concert hall built for Rostropovich!

 

 

 

conducting at the Evian Festival 2010
(click photo to enlarge)