Biography

Stéphane Denève is Music Director of the Brussels Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Music Director Designate of the Saint Louis Symphony, and Director of the Centre for Future Orchestral Repertoire (CffOR). From 2011-16, he served as chief conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and from 2005-12 as music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2009.

A graduate and prize-winner of the Paris Conservatory, Mr. Denève worked closely in his early career with Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre, and Seiji Ozawa. He has a special affinity for the music of his native France, and is a passionate advocate for new music. A gifted communicator and educator, he is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners, and has worked regularly with young people in the Tanglewood Music Center and New World Symphony.

Mr. Denève is a frequent guest with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, and Toronto Symphony. Other recent appearances include the Vienna Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony.

In the field of opera, Mr. Denève has led productions at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatro de Liceu, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Opéra National de Paris.

As a recording artist, he has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck, and Honegger. He is a triple winner of the Diapason d’Or of the Year, 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 releases are a disc of the works of Guillaume Connesson with Brussels Philharmonic (awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année, Caecilia Award, and Classica Magazine’s CHOC of the Year), and a disc with Lucas and Arthur Jussen and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, both for Deutsche Grammophon.

(May 2018)