Rising British maestro Alpesh Chauhan just tapped for another post

Conductor Alpesh Chauhan, who makes his Civic Orchestra debut with a pair of concerts Feb. 1-2, just has been tapped for another post. 

Currently the music director of England’s Birmingham Opera and principal guest conductor of Germany’s Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Chauhan will become music director and artistic adviser of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

This season, Chauhan also will mark debuts with the Stavanger, Detroit, and Vancouver symphonies, Orchestre National de Belgique, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and PhilZuid.

A former associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, Chauhan led the group at the BBC Proms in 2022 and regularly appears with the orchestra as guest conductor. He’s also currently recording a full Tchaikovsky cycle with the ensemble on the Chandos Records label.

He is also a patron of Young Sounds UK, a charity that supports young musicians from disadvantaged backgrounds and offers them career development.

Born in Birmingham, he studied cello before pursuing conducting studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 2022, he was designated as an OBE for his services to the arts.

He points to Andris Nelsons as an important mentor. “Being his assistant at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was a post any young conductor would have wanted,” he told the BBC. "It was so exciting to see his freedom in concert. His gestures were always at the service of the musical sound or structure. There are so many technicians in this world, but there aren’t so many musicians.

"He used to say things like, ’Alpesh, don’t dictate from the first rehearsal how every solo should be. Just allow the musicians to play, give them the space, and they may give you back something more beautiful than you’d ever thought.’ ”