Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann Signs with Warner Classics & Erato 

Stutzmann will release her first album with the record label in August 2024

Based in Paris, Warner Classics and its sister label Erato together form one of the world’s top classical music recording companies. As part of her joining their roster, the French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann will release her first album under a new exclusive agreement with the label. 

Recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the album will comprise works by Dvořák, including his Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and American Suite, scheduled for release in August 2024.

Stutzmann inaugurated her tenure as the Atlanta Symphony’s Music Director in 2022, when she became the second woman to serve as artistic leader of one of America’s top 25 orchestras.

Her recent guest engagements have included concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Munich Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth Festival, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. She also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra. 

Stutzmann first trained as a contralto, and launched her distinguished career in the mid-1980s. Her earliest recordings were also for Erato Records (before it was acquired by Warner Music Group in 1992). 

Later on, she returned to the label for three albums as both singer and conductor with Orfeo 55, the instrumental ensemble she founded in 2009 and directed for 10 years. Her conducting mentors included Jorma Panula, Sir Simon Rattle, and the late Seiji Ozawa. 

“Nathalie Stutzmann has indeed entered a ‘new world’ as an artist in her evolution from singer to conductor,” said Warner Classics and Erato’s president, Alain Lanceron in the press release. “This Dvořák No. 9 will stand as her first recording of a symphony, giving proof of her thrilling capacity for shedding fresh light on works of the core repertoire. Having followed Nathalie’s career since its early days, I can say that her interpretations – in their strength, honesty, insight and affection – are very much an expression of the person I have come to know over the years.” 

“It is an immense joy and honor to join the legendary label Warner Classics and sign an exclusive contract as a conductor,” Stutzmann added. “I have a long and rich history of collaboration with this amazing group of people, who love the artists they work with and create a family atmosphere. They are led by Alain Lanceron, whom I thank dearly for his support and truthfulness. It is a dream come true to work with a team that understands and respects the necessity for an artist to have the artistic freedom to create a true musical world, and to record works of immense beauty with my favorite orchestras in the world. 

“Music is an eternal source of emotion and must be shared with the world as the best form of spiritual communication with the unknown and the meaning of life,” she continued. “Our first album is dedicated to Dvořák, with his ‘New World’ Symphony and American Suite, recorded live with the musicians of my Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It is a lovely tribute to my amazing commitments across the Atlantic, but also to the new horizons opening up for our exciting collaboration.”