The dynamic, young french conductor Antoine Marguier, a semi-finalist in the Besançon international conducting competition in 2001, has studied conducting with David Zinman (Aspen Music Festival and School), James Levine, Kurt Masur (Verbier music festival), and Roberto Benzi. Marguier also served as assistant conductor to Jesus Lopez-Cobos with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes for two seasons. Before embarking on his conducting career, Antoine Marguier was considered one of the best clarinet players of his generation, performing as an orchestral instrumentalist at the highest international level. Antoine Marguier was a clarinetist with the European Union Youth Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado and Vladimir Ashkenazy, followed by a stint of seventeen year as a member of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, where he was initially appointed by Armin Jordan. In 2006 he conducted the opening of a memorial concert as a homage to Jordan at the Grand Theatre in Geneva.

Marguier has led the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Geneva Chamber Orchesta, Swiss Musical Youth symphony orchestra, Ensemble Paul Klee in Bern and Lausanne Chamber Orchestra amongst others. He collaborates regularly with the Sinfonietta de Lausanne, which he conducted on a highly successful tour of China in 2007. In 2004, Antoine Marguier conducted to great critical acclaim the contemporary music Ensemble Contrechamps in a staged production of Stravinsky’s l’histoire du soldat, directed by Omar Porras, in Paris. He has since been invited back as a regular conductor with the Ensemble Contrechamps. Under his baton, the Ensemble Instrumental du Conservatoire de Musique de Genève gave the premières of two operas (un opéra dans le potager & a l’ombre du grand arbre) by Robert Clerc. Antoine Marguier is also music director and co-founder, together with comedian Joan Mompart, of the Compagnie du Rossignol, which brings together principal players from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with stage actors in educational concerts. Since 2006 he is professor of chamber music at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève, where he is currently also artistic director of the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Musique de Genève (CMgo), comprising professors and some of the advanced students of the Conservatoire.

His most recent invitations have included subscription concerts with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Orchestre de l'Opera de Marseille, Niiza Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, and the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban. His activities have also included tours to China with the Orchestre de la Haute Ecole de Musique Geneva, and a tour with the Ensemble Asko-Schönberg Amsterdam with the production the house of the sleeping beauties by Kris Defoort under the auspices of the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Marguier was recently appointed resident conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon, following an international search. He is also music director-designate of the Orchestra of the United Nations.