French conductor MARC MINKOWSKI, who trained as a bassoon player, is a highly sought-after specialist throughout the world in the performance of early music. In 1982 he founded the ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble with whom he performs French Baroque music as well as works by Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, Gluck, Mozart and Offenbach. Recently Minkowski, who trained as a conductor under Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux Conducting School in the USA, has also performed 19th-century works with his orchestra and built up a broad lyrical repertoire including Massenet’s Cendrillon and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Marc Minkowski is also much in demand as a guest conductor and performs regularly in major European opera houses and at festivals such as the Mozart Week and the Salzburg Festival. As a concert conductor he also frequently performs symphonic repertoire with renowned European and American orchestras, concentrating increasingly on music by 20th-century composers such as Ravel, Stravinsky, Lili Boulanger, Roussel, Adams, Gorecki and Olivier Greif. In June 2008 Minkowski took up the appointment as music director of the Sinfonia Varsovia in Poland. Since this season he has been artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week.