Born in Oxford, Daniel Harding began his career assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with which he made his professional debut in 1994. He went on to assist Claudio Abbado at the Berlin Philharmonic and made his debut with the orchestra at the 1996 Berlin Festival.
He is the music and artistic director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was music director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2016 to 2019 and principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2007 to 2017. He is honored with the lifetime title of conductor laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In 2018, Harding was named artistic director of the Anima Mundi Festival. In 2020, he was named conductor-in-residence of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
He is a regular visitor to the Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In 2005, he opened the season at La Scala, conducting a new production of Idomeneo. He returned in 2007 for Salome, in 2008 for a double bill of Bluebeard’s Castle and Il Prigioniero, in 2011 for Cavalleria rusticana and I Pagliacci, for which he was awarded the prestigious Premio della Critica Musicale Franco Abbiati, in 2013 for Falstaff, and most recently in 2018 for Fierrabras.
He also conducted Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic; The Turn of the Screw and Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Bavarian State Opera; Die Zauberflöte at the Wiener Festwochen, and Wozzeck at the Theater an der Wien. Closely associated with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, he has conducted new productions of Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, La traviata, Eugene Onegin and Le nozze di Figaro.
His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Mahler Symphony No. 10 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, received widespread critical acclaim. For Virgin/EMI, he has recorded Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brahms’ Symphonies Nos. 3-4 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra (winner of a Grammy Award for best opera recording), Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw (awarded the Choc de l’Année 2002, the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros and a Gramophone award) with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and works by Lutosławski with Solveig Kringelborn and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and works by Britten with Ian Bostridge and the Britten Sinfonia (awarded the Choc de L’Annee 1998). A regular collaborator with Harmonia Mundi, Harding also recorded “The Wagner Project” with bariton Matthias Goerne, and Mahler Symphony No. 9 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2022-23, he conducts the Royal Concertegebouw Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchèstre de la Suisse Romande, Teatro alla Scala, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours this season include Europe with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Europe and Scandinavia with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In spring 2023, he makes his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and that summer, he will return to the Vienna State Opera to conduct a double bill of Cavelleria/Pagliacci.
In 2002, Harding was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2017 was nominated to the position Officier Arts et Lettres. In 2012, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He is a qualified airline pilot.
July 2022
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.
