DuncanWard

★★★★☆

'The affinity for the French repertoire that Ward had already shown in the Chausson was underlined in the fine performance of Debussy’s La Mer that closed the concert... the first movement’s dawn-to-noon progression was superbly paced, and the final movement was equally convincing, every fleck of orchestral colour perfectly touched in.' - Andrew Clements, The Guardian

British conductor Duncan Ward has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation. He is Chief Conductor of Philzuid (South Netherlands Philharmonic), a position he has held since 2020/21.

Duncan works regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio, Vienna Radio, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and Gürzenich Orchester Köln. Recent debuts include Staatskapelle Dresden, Les Siecles, Finnish Radio Symphony, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Lucerne Symphony & NDR Hamburg.

He is particularly acclaimed for his broad repertoire, equally at home with period instrument ensembles such as Balthasar Neumann as with contemporary music specialists including Ensemble Modern and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

During the 23/24 season Duncan will make his debut at Zurich Opera conducting A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as returning to Oper Köln for Peter Grimes. Past productions in Cologne have included the German premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and a revival of Die Zauberflöte. In 22/23 Duncan made his debut at The Metropolitan Opera conducting Die Zauberflöte, as well as Luxembourg Opera for Kurt Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.