Daniel Harding

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 Principal Conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

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, 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’. His operatic experience also includes ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Wozzeck’ at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 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’. Other engagements have included ‘Die Zauberflöte’ in Vienna, ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ at the Bayerische Staatsoper and ‘Jenùfa’ for Welsh National Opera.

Daniel Harding records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. His first disc for DG, a recording of Mahler's Symphony no. 10 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, has just been released to critical acclaim. Future releases include a disc of Mozart, Gluck and Haydn arias with Patrica Petibon and Concerto Köln for Deutsche Grammophon and 'Billy Budd' with the LSO for Virgin/EMI.

Photo: Deutsche Grammophon / Harald Hoffmann