Raphaël Merlin
(c) Julien Mignot

43-year-old French cellist and conductor Raphaël Merlin has been appointed artistic director of the Poitiers based Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine, effective January 2026. He succeeds conductor and pianist Jean-François Heisser, who has been at the helm of the organization since 2000.

Merlin was cellist with the Quatuor Ebène from 2002 to 2023. In 2014, he founded the Forces Majeures orchestra, and in 2023 he became artistic and musical director of the Geneva Chamber Orchestra. He is also a professor of chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and a professor at the Haute Ecole de Lausanne.