Daniel Harding
Introduction
Daniel Harding is one of the brightest of a new generation of conductors.
Born in Oxford, he began his career assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with whom he made his professional debut in 1994. He went on to assist Claudio Abbado at the Berlin Philharmonic and made his debut with the orchestra at the 1996 Berlin Festival. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Music Partner of the New Japan Philharmonic. He was recently honoured with the lifetime title of Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, where he previously held the positions of Music Director and Principal Conductor. He is Artistic Director of the Ohga Hall in Karuizawa, Japan.
He is a regular visitor to the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Vienna Philharmonic (both of which he has conducted at the Salzburg Festival), the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouworkest, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In the U.S. and in Canada he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.
In 2005 he opened the season at La Scala, Milan, conducting a new production of ‘Idomeneo’. He returned in 2007 for ‘Salome’ and in 2008 for a double bill of ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ and ‘Il Prigionero’ and most recently in 2011 for a double bill of ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and ‘Pagliacci’, for which he was awarded the prestigious Premio della Critica Musicale “Franco Abbiati”. His operatic experience also includes ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Wozzeck’ at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at the Theater an der Wien, and ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic. Closely associated with the Aix-en-Provence Festival he has conducted new productions there of ‘Così fan tutte’, ‘Don Giovanni’, ‘The Turn of the Screw’, ‘La Traviata’, ‘Eugene Onegin’ and, most recently, ‘Le nozze di Figaro’. Future operatic engagements include new productions at La Scala and the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin.
For an up-to-date biography, please contact Gavin Bates
