In December 2017, John Nelson gifted France with the first major recording of Les Troyens (1863) by Hector Berlioz, released by Erato. The American conductor's generous and firmly inspired direction brought this grand five-act French opera - for Berlioz, the work of a lifetime - to its full realization: long considered unplayable and unsingable, it was carried by a transcended Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and an impressive lineup of singers. The "Berlioz Conductor" passed away on March 31, at the age of 83, in Chicago, Illinois.

Born in San José on December 6, 1941, into a family of Protestant missionaries stationed in Costa Rica, young Nelson began playing piano at the age of 7. At 12, he moved to the United States to further his education (in Florida and then Illinois). He studied piano, organ and choral singing. His puritanical and spiritual upbringing naturally guided him toward sacred music. It was at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he won the Irving Berlin Prize under the tutelage of Jean Morel, that the young man discovered the "forbidden" world of opera, which would become his preferred musical genre.

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