Daniel Harding, Chief Conductor

Harding is a regular guest with the world's leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the La Scala Philharmonic. In the United States, he has performed with the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco symphony orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics. As a sought-after opera conductor, he has led acclaimed productions at La Scala in Milan, the Vienna City Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and at the festivals in Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg. He has previously been artistic director of the Orchestre de Paris and of the Anima Mundi Festival in Pisa, as well as principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel Harding has toured with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra to Europe's most prestigious venues, and has recorded acclaimed and award-winning albums with the orchestra. His contract as chief conductor and artistic director continues until the spring of 2025. “It is increasingly rare for a relationship between conductor and orchestra to not only last more than a decade, but also continue to grow,” he has said of his collaboration with the orchestra.

In 2002, Harding received the French award Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2017 he was awarded the title of Officier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2012, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2021, he received the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Daniel Harding was born in Oxford, England, and played the trumpet before he began conducting in his late teens. Since 2016, he is also a trained airline pilot.