The French conductor Alexandre Bloch was appointed Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille in 2016 and has made a huge impact on the musical making in the city. Two of his recordings with the orchestra – Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles (for Pentatone) and Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer, with Véronique Gens, and the Symphony (Alpha Classics) – were shortlisted for the Gramophone Classical Music Awards. And such has been the acclaim of the Bloch/ONL partnership that the orchestra was also shortlisted for this year's Orchestra of the Year Award.

The latest release from this dynamic partnership is Mahler's Seventh Symphony, just out from Alpha Classics. James Jolly met up with Alexandre Bloch earlier his year when the conductor was in London on a short UK tour with the Lille orchestra. They talked about Mahler and also about the Lille orchestra which is really beginning to attract major attention.