François-Xavier Roth – the man who can do everything, and is doing it in next Tuesday's prom

François-Xavier Roth (known to his intimates as FXR) is an oddly elf-like French conductor you may not have registered yet but should – partly because he turns up in a notable Prom on August 9, with a Simon Holt première and the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony, but also because he’s one of the more interesting figures on the threshold of baton-celebrity.
Ten years ago he won the Donatella Flick competition which led to a series of engagements with the LSO. Then he seemed to drop out of the picture so far as UK work was concerned, with only occasional appearances on London platforms. But in the meantime he was building a high-profile career back in France with a band of his own creation called Les Siècles. And what made Les Siècles special was that their concerts would start on period instruments, playing Rameau, Couperin whatever, and end on contemporary ones playing Boulez and Birtwistle.