Daniel Harding is the Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2016 – 2019 and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2007 – 2017. He is honoured with the lifetime title of Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. In 2020, he was named Conductor in Residence of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. In 2024 he will take up the position of Music Director of the Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area (YMCG, CHINA) for a five-year term.
He is a regular visitor to the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In 2005 he opened the season at La Scala, Milan, conducting a new production of Idomeneo. He later returned to conduct Salome, Il Prigioniero, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci (for which he was awarded the prestigious Premio della Critica Musicale ‘Franco Abbiati’), Falstaff and Le nozze di Figaro. He has conducted Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Festival with the Wiener Philharmoniker; The Turn of the Screw and Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Der fliegende Holländer at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Die Zauberflöte at the Wiener Festwochen, Pelléas et Mélisande at the Wiener Staatsoper and Wozzeck at the Theater an der Wien. Closely associated with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, he has conducted new productions of Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, La Traviata, Eugene Onegin and Le nozze di Figaro.
His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Mahler Symphony No. 10 with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Orff’s Carmina Burana the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks both received widespread critical acclaim. For Virgin/EMI he has recorded Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brahms’ Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra (winner of a Grammy Award for best opera recording), Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw (awarded the “Choc de l’Année 2002”, the “Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros” and a Gramophone award) with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; works by Lutosławski with Solveig Kringelborn and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and works by Britten with Ian Bostridge and the Britten Sinfonia (awarded the “Choc de L’Annee 1998”). For BR Klassik he has released critically acclaimed recordings of Schumann Szenen aus Goethes Faust and Mahler Symphony No. 6. His performances of Mahler Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmerman are available on the Berliner Philharmoniker label. A regular collaborator with Harmonia Mundi, his latest recordings with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra include ‘The Wagner Project’ with Matthias Goerne; Mahler Symphonies no. 5 & 9, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and a newly released Britten disc.
The 2022/23 season sees Daniel embark on major tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; he also appears with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin and Baden-Baden. He makes debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as well as returning to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Filarmonica della Scala, Dresden Staatskapelle and to the Wiener Staatsoper for Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci.
In 2002 Daniel was awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government and in 2017 nominated to the position Officier Arts et Lettres. In 2012, he was elected a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2021, he was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours. He is a qualified airline pilot.
