L.A. Phil names new assistant conductor

FRENCH conductor Lionel Bringuier, who turned 20 on Sept. 24, has been named assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning in 2007.

Currently assistant conductor of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, he will be the youngest assistant conductor in the Philharmonic’s 87-year history.

“For a Frenchman, it’s really a dream to come to the United States,” Bringuier said Wednesday by phone from Nice, France, his birthplace. “The Los Angeles Philharmonic and its diversity of programming is my model of what every orchestra in the world should be like.”

When he visited Los Angeles in October, he said, “the Philharmonic played Haydn, Brett Dean and Mussorgsky, and the audience -- more than 2,000 people -- followed everything. In France, you don’t have so many people listening to new music. I’m looking forward to this appointment very much.”

Bringuier was chosen by Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen from seven finalists, drawn from 180 applicants. His appointment is for two years.

“Lionel is one of the top talents of his generation, no question about it,” Salonen said Wednesday. “I very much like his personality and attitude. He’s very open, intellectually curious and has a tremendous willingness to learn and develop. That hit me right away.”

On Saturday, with no rehearsal, Bringuier filled in for Philharmonic assistant conductor Joana Carneiro at a Symphonies for Youth program in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Carneiro, who was promoted to the position last month, will remain an assistant conductor through this season. Former assistant conductor Alexander Mickelthwate, who became music director of the Winnipeg Symphony this season, will remain associate conductor through the season.

Bringuier, born in 1986, began studying cello at the Academy of Nice when he was 5 and gave his first cello recital before the countess of Paris at age 9. At 13, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where he studied cello, choral singing and jazz. He began studying conducting there in 2000 and went on to win the 2005 Besancon Young Conductors Competition by unanimous decision. Next month, he will become assistant conductor of the Orchestre de Bretagne in France, but he will make Los Angeles his primary residence.

chris.pasles@latimes.com