Paris, Guillaume-Alexis

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Paris, Guillaume-Alexis

Paris, Guillaume-Alexis, South Netherlands conductor and composer; b. Liège, c. 1756; d. St. Petersburg, Jan. 30, 1840. He began his career at the Maastricht theater in 1776. From 1780 to 1782 he was conductor at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. After conducting in Ghent (1782–83), Lyons (1784), Liège (1786), and Amsterdam (1787–88), he was again conductor at the Théâtre de la Monnaie (1790–92). When the French invaded his homeland, he fled to Hamburg in 1794. He was called to St. Petersburg to take charge of the French opera company at the imperial court (1799–1804). From 1801 to 1821 he was conductor of the St. Petersburg Phil. Soc, where he introduced a number of masterworks to Russia. He composed the opera Le nouveau sorcier (Liège, Jan. 9, 1786), several ballets, and other stage works.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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