The spirit of the place according to Ludovic Morlot

"Just a stone's throw from Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle orchestra, I like to pop in between rehearsals at Pike Place Market for a snack at the Paris-Madrid Grocery. But in the evening after the concertsI take the time to return to quieter places like Adana, with its Japanese purity, in the blossoming Capitol Hill district. The chef, who trained in Osaka, creates dishes of great delicacy, smoked cedar ice cream and other creations. However, what I like to order is simply a Katsu Sando, a typically Japanese grilled pork sandwich, accompanied by a small cup of sake. My other Capitol Hill address is Mamnoon, an incredible Lebanese-Syrian restaurant whose name means 'gratitude'. The cocktails, such as 'Cardamint', made with cardamine and mint, are inventive, and the mezze is fantastic, as is the exquisite labneh with Lebanese zaatar, all in a beautiful setting with many works by contemporary Middle Eastern artists.

When I have professional meetings, musicians coming to play in Seattle for example, I like to invite them to lunch or dinner at Loulay, a sort ofembassy of French gastronomywhose omelette is incomparable. When I find a bit of time, I stroll around the Capitol Hill area, particularly to the Elliott Bay Book Company, a very fine independent bookshop with a selection of 150,000 titles ranging from contemporary literature to art books. Further north in the district, I sometimes stop off at the Volunteer Park Café, for its bohemian atmosphere, which I really enjoy. Further north-west of the city is Discovery Park, a real urban oasis where you can go for long walks. That's what makes Seattle so great, this constant closeness to nature.

When I'm not conducting, I try to enjoy the music that other people are making, especially in a city so famous for its clubs. The Royal Room Wayne Horvitz's Club is a place I enjoy when I feel like listening to jazz. Of course, I also keep up to date with the programming of the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Like the SAM - Seattle Art Museum - is very close to my concert hall, so it's easy for me to wander through the collection, which includes paintings from the Middle Ages as well as works by Veronese, Matisse and Rothko. The Henry Gallery, on the University of Washington campus, is another fine cultural venue. This is the city's only museum of contemporary art, founded in 1926 by the collector Horace Henry, where you can admire many contemporary artists, especially American. To conclude my eight years in Seattle, I will be conducting French music in June, the Nocturnal aquatics by Debussy, a way of saying goodbye to this orchestra".