Thomas Adès conducts Debussy, Adès & Simpson

Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include three operas: he conducted the premiere of the most recent, The Exterminating Angel, at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Royal Opera House, London. He conducted the premiere and revival of The Tempest at the Royal Opera House, and a new production at The Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper and in November 2022 at La Scala, Milan. Thomas led the world premiere of his full-evening ballet The Dante Project at Covent Garden, and conducted it in May 2023 at the Opéra Garnier, Paris. He conducted a new production of The Exterminating Angel, featuring a critically acclaimed staging from Calixto Bieito, in spring 2024 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

He frequently leads performances of his orchestral works Asyla (1997); Tevot (2007); Polaris (2010); Violin Concerto Concentric Paths (2005); In Seven Days for piano and orchestra (2008); Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra (2013); the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2019). Other recent works include Dawn, a chacony for orchestra at any distance (2020), Shanty – over the Sea for strings (2020) and Märchentänze for solo violin and piano with orchestra (2021). Air – Homage to Sibelius for violin and orchestra, a Roche commission for Anne-Sophie Mutter, was premiered at the 2022 Lucerne Festival where Thomas was Composer-in-Residence.

October 2024 sees Thomas Adès conduct the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester as part of his two-season residency with the ensemble which sees him appear as a conductor, pianist and composer in various concert formats. Last autumn Thomas also began a two-season residency with the Hallé orchestra – in 23/24 he conducted two orchestral concerts and curated a chamber programme. For the first appearance this 24/25 season on 21 November, Thomas conducts Aquifer, alongside his Air – Homage to Sibelius for violin and orchestra, which received its UK premiere with the London Symphony Orchestra in May 2024.

As conductor, Thomas appears regularly with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Finnish Radio, Royal Concertgebouw, Santa Cecilia, Toronto Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestras. In opera, in addition to The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House and Zürich Opera, and the premieres of three operas by Gerald Barry, including the Los Angeles world premieres of The Importance of Being Earnest and Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, of which he also gave the European premiere at Covent Garden. Further 24/25 highlights include Thomas’ concerts with the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

The world premiere recording of Thomas Adès’ Dante from Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024. Recorded live at Walt Disney Concert Hall and released through Nonesuch, Dante is a 90-minute ballet score in three parts inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. It debuted as part of The Dante Project ballet at the Royal Opera House in 2021, choreographed by Wayne McGregor and designed by Tacita Dean.

Thomas’ CD recording of The Tempest from the Royal Opera House (EMI) won the Contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards; his DVD of the production from the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année (2013), Best Opera recording (2014 Grammy Awards) and Music DVD Recording of the Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards). Recent piano releases include an album of solo piano music by Janáček and a live album of Winterreise with Ian Bostridge. Thomas’ solo disc of Janáček’s piano music won the 2018 Janáček medal. In 2023, Thomas was awarded the BBVA Foundation ‘Frontiers of Knowledge’ prize. In September 2024, Thomas received the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, presented live onstage at the BBC Proms by conductor Sir Simon Rattle – himself a recipient of the RPS Gold Medal in 2000.

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought-after and versatile artists today. As a soloist, conductor, and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary, playing on period and modern instruments.

Season 2023/24 included tours with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Philippe Herreweghe and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. Altstaedt made his debut with Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and NAC Orchestra, Ottawa, while re-invitations included London Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner, amongst others.

Since his highly acclaimed debut with Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, recent notable residencies and collaborations include Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg with Teodor Currentzis, Helsinki Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Lahav Shani, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Philippe Herreweghe, Münchner Philharmoniker with Krzysztof Urbanski, European Union Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, all the BBC orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon (with Kazuki Yamada) symphony orchestras, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.