Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is the current Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, following six seasons as Principal Guest Conductor. In July 2022, it was announced that Søndergård would succeed Osmo Vänskä as Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, becoming Music Director Designate from the 2022–23 season and assuming the full Music Director role from 2023–24. Between 2012 and 2018, he served as Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), after stepping down as Principal Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.
He has appeared with many notable orchestras in leading European centers, such as Berlin (including Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin), Leipzig (Gewandhausorchester), Paris (Orchestre National de France), London (London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra) and Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic), and he is a familiar figure in Scandinavia, with such orchestras as Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic. North American appearances to date have included the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He has made highly successful tours to China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The 2022–23 season will see Søndergård return to Edinburgh International Festival (Mahler Symphony No. 3) and the BBC Proms with the RSNO. The two Proms performances will be centered on Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, performed by Nicola Benedetti. Plans for the RSNO main season include a full Brahms symphony cycle, Britten’s War Requiem and further European touring. Søndergård makes extensive guest appearances in the U.S. this season, with debut appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony, alongside return visits to the Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Chicago Symphony. On the operatic stage, following his Reumert Award-winning appearance in early 2022 for Die Walküre, Søndergård will return to Royal Danish Opera this season to conduct Strauss’ Elektra. Also in his native Denmark, he returns to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra to conduct the world premiere of Rune Glerup’s new violin concerto with Isabelle Faust.
As part of the 2015 anniversary celebrations of both Sibelius and Nielsen, he conducted a wide variety of their works with many leading orchestras. A passionate supporter of the music of Carl Nielsen, his performance with Swedish Radio Symphony of Nelson’s Symphony No. 5 was praised as “equal of the great pioneers of Nielsen interpretation… It’s hard to imagine a finer performance of this remarkable symphony” (Dagens Nyheter); and in 2019 he participated in a special concert to celebrate Nielsen’s work with the Royal Danish Academy of Music Copenhagen.
Following his acclaimed debut for Royal Danish Opera (Kafka’s Trial), Søndergård has returned regularly to conduct a broad repertoire, ranging from contemporary to mainstream, including Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Cunning Little Vixen, Il viaggio a Reims and Die Walküre, which won the 2022 Reumert Award for Best Opera, as well as short concert tours with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Further returns are planned, and he has also enjoyed successful collaborations with Norwegian Opera and Royal Swedish Opera. His Stockholm productions of Tosca and Turandot (both with Nina Stemme) led to his Bayerische Staatsoper debut, conducting main season and Opera Festival performances of Turandot, and he most recently returned for the Opera’s Akademiekonzert series. He made his Deutsche Oper Berlin debut with the world premiere of Scartazzini’s Edward II and has since returned for Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet.
His discography covers a broad range of contemporary and mainstream repertoire, including Sibelius symphonies and tone poems with BBC NOW and Prokofiev and Richard Strauss with RSNO for Linn Records; Vilde Frang’s celebrated debut recording (WDR Koln for EMI); Poul Ruders (Arhus Symphony, Norwegian Radio, Royal Danish Opera [Kafka’s Trial] for Da Capo and Bridge Records); and Lutosławski and Dutilleux concertos with cellist Johannes Moser and Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Pentatone).
In January 2022, Søndergård was decorated with a prestigious Royal Order of Chivalry—the Order of Dannebrog (Ridder af Dannebrogordenen) by Her Majesty Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark.
Photo creidt: Bjarke Johansen