Sir Mark Elder was music director of the Hallé from 2000 to 2024 and now holds the position of conductor emeritus. He was previously music director of English National Opera (1979-1993) and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, he took up the post of principal guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has enjoyed long relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras, as well as working with leading symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is a principal artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has appeared annually at the Proms for many years, including, in 1987 and 2006, the internationally televised “Last Night.”
He has enjoyed a long association with the Royal Opera House and has appeared in many other prominent theaters, including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Paris, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich, Dutch National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He was the first English conductor to conduct a new production at the Bayreuth Festival.
From 2011 to 2019, he was artistic director of Opera Rara, for which he has made many award-winning recordings, and he has recorded a wide repertoire with the Hallé, including a complete Ring cycle, Parsifal and the three great Elgar oratorios.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honor in 2017, knighted in 2008 and awarded the CBE in 1989. In May 2006, he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society, and awarded honorary membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011. He holds the Barbirolli Chair at the Royal Academy of Music.
October 1924
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.
