Sir Mark Elder becomes music director of the Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia in September 2025. He was music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester from 2000 to 2024 and is now conductor emeritus. He was named principal guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022. He also was music director of English National Opera (ENO, 1979/93), principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1982/85) and of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1992/95), and music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1989/94). He is principal artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), and he has appeared annually at the BBC Proms for many years, and with the Hallé since 2003.
Sir Mark Elder has made many recordings with such ensembles as the Hallé, London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, the OAE, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. In 2003 the Hallé launched its own label, and releases have met with universal critical acclaim culminating in Gramophone awards for The Dream of Gerontius in 2009, Götterdämmerung and Elgar’s Violin Concerto in 2010, and Elgar’s The Apostles, which won Recording of the Year in the 2013 BBC Music Magazine Awards. The recent release of Siegfried has completed his Ring cycle with the Hallé, and the complete cycle of Vaughan Williams’s symphonies is now available. A live recording of Lohengrin was released by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and LSO Live recently released Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, recorded at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
His TV appearances include a film on the life and music of Verdi for BBC TV and a similar project on Donizetti for German TV. He co-presented BBCTV’s Symphony in 2011 and fronted BBC2’s Maestro at the Opera in 2012.
Elder was artistic director of Opera Rara from 2011 to 2019, for which his many recording projects have included Donizetti’s Dom Sébastien, Imelda di Lambertazzi, Linda di Chamounix, Maria di Rohan, and the multi-award-winning Les Martyrs; Rossini’s Semiramide; and the 1857 version of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.
Future engagements include appearances with the London Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the Hallé in Manchester and at the Proms, the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh festivals, and the Bergen Philharmonic. Recent and forthcoming opera includes Carmen at the Opéra National de Paris; Benvenuto Cellini for Netherlands Opera; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for San Francisco Opera; Billy Budd, Falstaff, and La traviata for Glyndebourne; and concert performances of Lohengrin with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honor in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honors, knighted in 2008, and awarded the title Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989. He won an Olivier Award in 1991 and was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2006. He received an honorary membership from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011.
June 2025
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
