1948

• Born Amiens, France.

1966

• Attended the Paris Conservatoire.

1971

• Engaged as trombonist with L'Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon.

1974

• Besançon conducting competition – 2nd prize.

1975

• Conducting début with L'Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon – Schumann Scenes from Goethe's Faust.

1975

• Appointed deputy music director, Opéra Nouveau Lyon.

• Opera début with Mozart's The Magic Flute.

1976

• Invited by Pierre Boulez to the Ensemble InterContemporain as regular guest conductor.

1977

• Conducted productions of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortilèges, Schönberg's Erwartung and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

1978

• Invited to Festival dei due Mondi, Italy to conduct Rossini's La Cenerentola.

1981

• Opéra National de Paris début conducting Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Palais Garnier.

1981

• Glyndebourne début with Rossini's The Barber of Seville . Invited back the following year.

1981 - 1991

• General Music Director, Théatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels. Conducted 40 new productions, including Mozart's The Magic Flute, Lucio Silla, Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte, La Finta Gardiniera and La Clemenza di Tito. Directors he worked with during this period included Luc Bondy, Patrice Chéreau, Karl-Ernst Hermann, Peter Mussbach and Herbert Wernicke.

From mid ‘80s

• Performances with symphony and chamber orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de Paris, the Munich State Orchestra, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Orchestras of the NDR, WDR and the HR, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, L' Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, L'Ensemble InterContemporain, and L'Ensemble Modern.

1984

• La Scala début conducting Debussy's Le Martyre de St. Sébastien.

1986

• Invited by Karajan to make Salzburg début with Debussy's Le Martyre de St. Sébastien.

1987-89

• Conducted Mozart Matinee concerts at Salzburg for three consecutive years.

1989

• Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at Glyndebourne.

1990

• Vienna Staatsoper début La Clemenza di Tito.

1992

• New Peter Sellers production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise at Paris' Opéra Bastille.

1993

• Conducts Mozart's early opera Lucio Silla, in a production by Peter Mussbach at Salzburg Mozart Week and the Salzburg Festival.

1993 - 1997

• Artistic director and general music director of the Frankfurt Opera as well as artistic director of Frankfurt Museum Society Concerts. Initiated and conducted many significant new productions, including:

• Alban Berg's Wozzeck (Peter Mussbach)

• Wagner's Der Ring der Nibelungen (Herbert Wernicke)

• Mozart's Don Giovanni & Le Nozze di Figaro (Peter Mussbach)

• Mozart's Idomeneo (Johannes Schütz)

• Lehár's The Merry Widow (Peter Mussbach)

• Mussorgsky's original version of Boris Godunov (Lluis Pascual)

1994

• First collaboration with Christoph Marthaler in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at Frankfurt Opera.

• Nominated 'conductor of the year' by Opernwelt.

1995

• German première of Philippe Boesman's Reigen, based on Arthur Schnitzler's play,with libretto by Luc Bondy.

1996

• Under Cambreling's directorate, German magazine Opernwelt nominates Frankfurt Opera 'opera house of the year'.

1997

• Appointed principal guest conductor of Klangforum Wien.

1997

• Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at Salzburg Festival.

• Beethoven's Fidelio in a new production by Christoph Marthaler, at Frankfurt Opera.

1998

• Janácek's Katya Kabanová in a new production by Christoph Marthaler, at Salzburg Festival. Revivals in Barcelona , Toulouse and Brussels.

1999

• Chief Conductor of SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg. Programmes complete orchestral music by Messiaen and repertoire by Berlioz, as well music by Debussy, Ravel and Rameau.

• Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in a new production by Alex Ollé and Carlos Padrissa, Salzburg Festival.

• Conducts world première of Berio's Cronaca Del Luogo in a production by Claus Guth, Salzburg Festival.

2000

• Berlioz's Les Troyens in a new production by Herbert Wernicke, Salzburg Festival.

• Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony in a new production by David Alden, at Chicago Lyric Opera.

2001

• Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in a new production by Christoph Marthaler, at Salzburg Festival.

2003

• Messiaen's three largest works Turangalila, Eclairs sur l'Au-dela and La Transfiguration de notre Seigneur Jesu Christ on three consecutive nights, during a European Tour with the SWR Sinfonieorchester.

• world première of Georg Friedrich Haas' Die Schöne Wunde, directed by Wolfgang Goebbel, at Bregenz Festival.

• Janáček's Jenufa in a production by Stéphane Braunschweig, at Le Châtelet.

• Mozart's Don Giovanni, at Metropolitan Opera, New York.

2004

• Concert performance of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise at Ruhr Triennale.

• Janáček's The Makropulos Case in a production by Hans Neuenfels, at Staatstheater Stuttgart.

• Revival of Robert Wilson's Debussy Pelleas et Melisande at Opéra National de Paris.

• Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise in a new production by Stanislas Nordey at Opéra National de Paris.

• Revival of Christoph Marthaler's Katya Kabanova at Opéra National de Paris.

2005

• Messiaen's Réveil des oiseaux and L'ascension with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.

• La Clemenza di Tito at Opéra National de Paris.

• New production of L'amour des Trois Oranges at Opéra National de Paris.

2006

• New production of Berlioz's Les Troyens at Opéra National de Paris.

• Revivals of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at Opéra National de Paris.

• Messiaen's Turangalila Symphonie with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Tokyo.

2007

• New productions of Charpentier's Louise,  Verdi's La Traviata and Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue  at Opéra National de Paris.

• Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Konerthuset, Stockholm.

• Works by Mundry, Furrer and Huber with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Konzertsaal, Berlin.

• Works by Messiaen, Mozart and Dillon with Klangforum Wien and Camerata Salzburg at the Haus für Mozart, Salzburg.

2008

• A new production of  Berg’s Wozzeck and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Opéra National de Paris

• Dutilleux’s Métaboles, Tomasi’s Trombone Concerto and a new work by Borisova-Ollas, with the Münchner Philharmoniker.

• Britten’s: Violin Concerto, Mahler/Britten What the wild flowers tell me and Schumann’s Symphony No4 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

• Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphonie in Udine and Cremona with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden & Freiburg

• Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue in Tokyo with Opéra National de Paris