“Philippe Tondre, principal oboe of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among other ensembles, is to be the new principal with the Philadelphia Orchestra,” writes Susan Elliott in Friday’s (2/21) Musical America (subscription required). “He starts officially next season, but has been sitting in with the group since winning the audition in October. He succeeds Richard Woodhams, in the job from 1977 to 2018, who announced his retirement two years ago. According to the orchestra, Tondre, 29, is also principal of the SWR Symphonieorchester (since January 2009), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (since September 2014), the Mito Chamber Orchestra [Japan] (since January 2012), and the Saito Kinen Orchestra [Japan] (since January 2012).… He said he would be ‘suspending almost all my activities in Europe to give the Philadelphia Orchestra my full attention.’ Tondre is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Saarbrücken…. Tondre, who studied in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, has performed as a soloist with numerous international ensembles.… He served as principal with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig from 2016 until 2017 and has been guest principal with the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre de Paris.”
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