Among Bringuier's recent predecessors in the L.A. assistant conductor post are two fast-rising young conductors: Miguel Harth-Bedoya, currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony, and Alexander Mickelthwate, music director of the Winnipeg Symphony.

Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen commented, "I saw Lionel for the first time on a video a couple of years ago and saw immediately that he was a natural. At his audition with the orchestra, he made a great impression on me, as well as the musicians. Lionel is one of the top talents of his generation, there's no question about this, and it's the right time in his life to do this."

Bringuier, who was born in Nice, France, in 1986, has been assistant conductor of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris since January 2005. That same year he swept the 49th Besan‹on Young Conductors Competition, winning the unanimous vote of the jury for top honors, the audience prize and the award from the musicians of the competition orchestra, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

He began his musical studies at the Academy of Nice at five; at thirteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Sup_rieur de Musique de Paris (CNSM) in the cello class of Philippe Muller. In 2000, he began his conducting studies at CNSM; he continues to study with Zsolt Nagy. He received his diploma in cello and conducting in 2004.

Recent and future engagements include the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the Janšcek Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava, the Prague Philharmonic, the Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt and the Helsinki Philharmonic. This season he makes his debut with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne.