Thomas Søndergård

Thomas Søndergård (born 4 October 1969, Holstebro, Denmark) is a Danish conductor. He is currently the Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Guest Conductor of Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Søndergård studied percussion and timpani at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1989 to 1992, where his teachers included Gert Mortensen. From 1989 to 1992, Søndergård was a timpanist in the European Union Youth Orchestra. He joined the Royal Danish Orchestra as a timpanist in 1992. He served on the faculty of the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 2001 to 2002.

Søndergård devoted greater attention to conducting from age 27.[1] His conducting mentors have included Alexander Polianichko, Yves Abel and Graham Bond. His conducting work in contemporary music has included conducting the 2005 premiere of Poul Ruders' Kafka's Trial with the Royal Danish Opera,[2][3] in performances which were recorded for commercial release.[4] Søndergård became principal conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) in 2009,[5] and concluded his KORK tenure after the 2011-2012 season.[6]

Søndergård first conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) in December 2009, as an emergency substitute for Thierry Fischer. In July 2011, Søndergård was named the 14th principal conductor of the BBC NOW, effective with the 2012-2013 season, for an initial contract of 4 years.[7][8] In February 2016, the BBC NOW announced the further extension of his contract as principal conductor through "at least 2018".[9] In October 2011, he was named the next principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years for 3 programmes per year.[10]

Søndergård has conducted commercial recordings for the DaCapo label, including music of Bent Lorentzen, Per Nørgård, and Poul Ruders,[11] and also for the Linn label.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Karen Price (2011-07-15). "Scandinavian cool: conductor Thomas Søndergård". Western Mail. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  2. ↑ Andrew Clements (2005-03-15). "Kafka's Trial (Opera House, Copenhagen)". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  3. ↑ Anthony Tommasini (2005-03-14). "Kafka on Trial, Opera Fans in Heaven". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  4. ↑ Andrew Clements (2006-06-30). "Ruders: Kafka's Trial, Van Hall/ Stille/ Rorholm/ Jensen/ Royal Danish Opera/ Sondergard (Da Capo, two CDs)". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  5. ↑ Jan Frederik Heyerdahl (2008-02-12). "KORK under dansk ledelse". Norwegian Radio. Retrieved 2011-07-30.
  6. ↑ Fred Olav Vatne (2011-07-12). "KORK må finne ny sjefdirigent". Norwegian Radio. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  7. ↑ "BBC National Orchestra of Wales announces new Principal Conductor" (Press release). BBC. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  8. ↑ Peter Collins (2011-07-12). "Great Dane to be chief BBC National Orchestra Wales conductor". Western Mail. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  9. ↑ "BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales' Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård extends his contract" (Press release). BBC. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  10. ↑ "Thomas Søndergård joins RSNO Artistic Team" (Press release). Royal Scottish National Orchestra. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  11. ↑ Anthony Tommasini (2011-06-10). "Poul Ruders". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  12. ↑ Fiona Maddocks (2015-04-12). "Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7 CD review – intense and rigorous". The Observer. Retrieved 2016-02-18.

External links

Cultural offices
Preceded by
Rolf Gupta		 Principal Conductor, Norwegian Radio Orchestra
2009–2012 		Succeeded by
Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Preceded by
Thierry Fischer		 Principal Conductor, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
2012–present 		Succeeded by
(incumbent)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.