Stéphane Denève is Music Director of the Brussels Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Director of the Centre for Future Orchestral Repertoire (CffOR). From 2011-2016, he served as Chief Conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and from 2005-2012 as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Recognised internationally for the exceptional quality of his performances and programming, he regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s greatest orchestras and soloists. He has a special affinity for the music of his native France, and is a passionate advocate for new music.
Recent engagements include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Vienna Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and NHK Symphony. In North America he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has been a frequent guest both in Boston and at Tanglewood, and he appears regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Toronto Symphony. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2015.
He enjoys close relationships with many of the world’s leading solo artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, James Ehnes, Leif Ove Andsnes, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Nikolaj Znaider, Gil Shaham, Piotr Anderszewski, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Nikolai Lugansky, Paul Lewis, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, and Nathalie Dessay.
In the field of opera, Stéphane Denève has led productions at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatro de Liceu, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein, and at the Opéra National de Paris. In the 16/17 season, he makes his debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin with Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette.
As a recording artist, he has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck and Connesson. He is a double winner of the Diapason d’Or de l’année, has been shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year Award, and has won the prize for symphonic music at the International Classical Music Awards. His most recent release is a disc of the works of Guillaume Connesson with Brussels Philharmonic, for Deutsche Grammophon.
A graduate and prize-winner of the Paris Conservatoire, Stéphane Denève worked closely in his early career with Sir Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre and Seiji Ozawa. He is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners, and works regularly with young people in the programmes of the Tanglewood Music Center and New World Symphony.
