Edward Gardner

Edward Gardner has been Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2021, recently extending his contract until at least 2028.

In August 2024 he became Music Director of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, having been Artistic Advisor since 2022. He is also Honorary Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, following his tenure as Chief Conductor.

With the LPO

On 5 August 2024 Ed conducted the Orchestra in a BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall featuring Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Busoni’s Piano Concerto with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor.

In 2024/25 – his fourth season as Principal Conductor – Ed conducts nine LPO concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. He opened the season with Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony and Berlioz’s The Death of Cleopatra with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato on 25 September 2024, and followed by concerts featuring pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. In October 2024 he and the Orchestra embarked on a major US tour with celebrated violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Randall Goosby, earning resounding praise throughout.

Throughout the season he teams up with more superb soloists including Víkingur Ólafsson, Isabelle Faust and Augustin Hadelich, and presents some of music’s biggest and best-loved works including Strauss’s mighty Alpine Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 – an enormous end to the season.

Recent highlights

During 2023/24 Ed conducted the LPO in ten concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, including the season-opener of Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. He toured with the Orchestra to South Korea and Taiwan, as well as Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Bruges. As part of the LPO festival ‘The Music in You’ in March 2024, he conducted concerts including Haydn’s The Creation; a reinvention of Szymanowski’s ballet Harnasie in collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor; Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins; and Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Other highlights with the Orchestra included Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

His recording on the LPO’s own label of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage, captured live at his first concert as Principal Conductor in 2021, won a 2023 Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording. In February 2024 the LPO followed this with Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, recorded in concert in February 2023. A disc of works by Michael Tippett will be released in November 2024.

In spring 2024 Ed and the LPO were the subject of a behind-the-scenes TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, still available to watch via Now TV.

Supporting young talent

A passionate supporter of young talent, Edward Gardner founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with The Juilliard School of Music, and with the Royal Academy of Music who appointed him their inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Chair in 2014.

Background

Born in Gloucester in 1974, Edward Gardner was educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. He went on to become Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include being named Royal Philharmonic Society Award Conductor of the Year (2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009) and an OBE for Services to Music in The Queen’s Birthday Honours (2012).

Edward Gardner’s position at the LPO is generously supported by Aud Jebsen.