Newly appointed Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Music Director Designate of Orchestre National de France, Cristian Măcelaru is one of the fast-rising stars of the conducting world. He takes on the new positions at WDR and ONF -- Europe’s leading radio orchestras -- effective with the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons respectfully. Măcelaru is Music Director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the world’s leading festival dedicated to contemporary symphonic repertoire. In August 2019, he led his third season in premiere-filled programs of new works by an esteemed group of composers: including Wynton Marsalis, Anna Clyne, and Tan Dun. The first half of the 2019/20 season sees Măcelaru continuing to strengthen his European presence with his BBC Proms debut conducting BBC Symphony Orchestra and pianist Seong-Jin Cho in Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and compatriot Constantin Silvestri. Following the grandeur season opening at WDR in Cologne with Mahler’s 4th Symphony and Dvořák’s Te Deum, Cristian Măcelaru collaborates internationally with the Swedish Radio Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Seattle Symphony. As part of the 2020 Beethoven Year celebrations, Cristian Măcelaru leads the New Japan Philharmonic in all-Beethoven programme at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and pianist Lambert Orkis.