Daniel Harding

“Harding conducts with great emphasis. The energy level is high. And that's a good starting point. It's infectious. . . . Technically, Harding is flawless. His transitions are skillful, he has a good ear, his preparation is thorough.”     The Independent (London), March 2007 Born in Oxford in 1975, Daniel Harding began his career while studying at Cambridge University, assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1994, he made his professional debut with the CBSO (winning the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for "Best Debut") and then became assistant to Claudio Abbado with the Berlin Philharmonic. Since then, he has made a name for himself as one of the most brilliant conductors of the younger generation, receiving critical acclaim for his work with major international orchestras and opera houses. 1996 Harding conducts the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time at the Berlin Festwochen and later that year appears as the youngest conductor ever at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall 1997 Chief Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in Norway (until 2000), Principal Guest Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden (until 2003) and Music Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (until 2003) 1998 Debuts with Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2001 Conducts Britten's The Turn of the Screw at the Aix Festival 2002 Debut at the Bavarian State Opera with Mozart's Entführung; conducts The Turn of the Screw at his Covent Garden and Edinburgh Festival debuts; Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Aix Festival. Concerts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie at the London Barbican Centre and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall; receives awards for his recording of The Turn of the Screw with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Choc de l’année, Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, Gramophone Award); the French government awards Harding the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2003 Becomes first Music Director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; appears with the Staatskapelle Dresden at the Salzburg Festival; conducts Haydn's Seven Last Words at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; appears again with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie at the Barbican Centre and conducts his farewell concert with the Bremen orchestra at the BBC Proms; in the USA, he makes his debut with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras 2004 Conducts Mahler's Tenth with the London Symphony Orchestra and at his debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Conducts the LSO's 100th birthday gala concert and Verdi's La Traviata at the Aix Festival 2005 Così fan tutte at the Aix Festival; further concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra; debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; triumphant debut at La Scala in Milan with Mozart's Idomeneo 2006 Conducts Berg's Wozzeck at Covent Garden, Mozart's Magic Flute in Vienna and Aix, Don Giovanni in Salzburg, and Così fan tutte in Vienna. Appearances with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bryn Terfel at an opera gala in Stockholm and with the Orchestra of La Scala in Italy; numerous concerts with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra throughout Europe and on tour in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan; European tour with Anne Sofie von Otter, featuring "Excerpts from the Great American Songbook." Conducts the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo, the Concertgebouw Orkest in Amsterdam, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, and the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein, in Athens, and a Mozart Gala at the Salzburg Festival with Elīna Garanča, Magdalena Kožená, Anna Netrebko, René Pape, and Patricia Petibon; the Deutsche Grammophon recording will be released on DVD in summer 2008. In autumn, Harding takes up his post as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and also becomes an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon 2007 At the beginning of the year, Daniel Harding takes up his post as Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducts Richard Strauss' Salome with the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the Aix Festival and with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival, and Britten's Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. His concert engagements include performances with the Staatskapelle Dresden on a European tour; the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Italy, Germany, Salzburg, and at the Aix Festival (with pianist Hélène Grimaud); the London Symphony Orchestra in London, Lisbon, various Spanish cities, and on a major Far East tour with pianist Lang Lang; the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival (with soprano Renée Fleming), in Vienna and Frankfurt; and the Concertgebouw Orkest in Amsterdam. To conclude the year, Harding gives two New Year's concerts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin 2008 The beginning of the year features a concert in Paris with the Orchestre national de France, followed by appearances with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm (including Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Anne Sofie von Otter). Harding conducts the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Italy, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre (with Midori and Viktoria Mullova), in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, and Oslo, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich. Harding's opera performances include Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Dallapiccola's Il prigioniero at La Scala. For his first release on Deutsche Grammophon, Daniel Harding conducts Mahler's Tenth with the Vienna Philharmonic. In autumn, Women in Love is released: arias by Mozart, Haydn, and Gluck with Patricia Petibon and Concerto Köln conducted by Daniel Harding. - 2/2008