Edward Gardner Conductor

Music Director, English National Opera

“Edward Gardner conducted in Sibelius's Night Ride and Sunrise, the perfect companion piece for these two premieres, and in Elgar's Enigma Variations with outstanding imagination and authority”

The Times, 12^th August 2008, Hilary Finch

( BBC Proms 2008 / BBC Symphony Orchestra )

In May 2007 Edward Gardner began his tenure as Music Director of English National Opera with a new critically acclaimed production of Britten’s Death in Venice. Under his direction, the ENO has presented a series of stellar productions, including Boris Godunov, Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, Der Rosenkavalier, Riders to the Sea, Punch and Judy and Peter Grimes. In recognition of his talent and commitment, Edward received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2008 for Best Conductor and this year, the Olivier award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Equally successful outside ENO, Edward’s future operatic engagements include debuts with Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Metropolitan Opera New York and La Scala, Milan. Since making his debut with Paris Opera in 2004/5, Edward returned each season with his most recent production being the Stravinsky’s Rake's Progress in 2006/7. In 2008, Edward returned to Glyndebourne with a production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw.

Since making his successful debut in 2005 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival, Edward has been re-invited each year to the orchestra and in 2008 conducted the UK premiere of Saariaho’s Adriana Mater in concert at the Barbican as well as making his Proms debut. Now recognised as one of the most talented conductors of his generation, Edward works regularly with the Halle Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the UK. Internationally, he works with the Bamberg Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, NAC Ottawa and the Indianapolis Symphony amongst others. In 2009/10 he will make his debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Edward has signed an exclusive contract with Chandos Records from 2009 with plans to record 2 discs per season. He has also made a number of recordings for EMI Records; Alison Balsolm/Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Kate Royal/the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Kate Royal/English National Opera Orchestra.

This is for information only and should not be reproduced. Please see full biography for further details.