The American conductor Joshua Weilerstein has been announced as the next musical director of the Orchestre National de Lille, a leading orchestra based in the northern Hauts-de-France region. He will succeed Alexander Bloch who has held the position since 2016 who will be stepping down in summer 2024.

Explaining the decision, the managing director of the orchestra François Bou said: 'Joshua Weilerstein conducts the greatest orchestras around the world. His project is fully in line with the values ​​of our orchestra: openness, excellence and generosity.'

Weilerstein is in popular demand as a guest conductor around the world, being known for conducting a wide range of repertoire from the renaissance to the modern day – he endeavours to include a work written by a living composer in every concert whenever possible. He has most recently been appointed Chief Conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and spent the last 6 years as artistic director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.

As a virtuoso violinist, Weilerstein comes from a distinguished string-playing family; his father Donald Weilerstein played violin in the Cleveland Quartet and his sister is the cellist and former Gramophone cover-artist, Alisa Weilerstein.

The Orchestre National de Lille was shortlisted for Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year award in 2022 and their album featuring Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Viola Concerto was given Editor’s choice in the 2023 awards issue of Gramophone. Below you can listen to Weilerstein's album of Rachmaninoff and Gershwin, Rhapsody,   featuring pianist Martin James Basset via Apple Music. The album was editor's choice in the April 2022 issue of Gramophone.