* Highbury Opera Theatre announces new Patron  - Ed Gardner *

Edward Gardner began his tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2021; he is also Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, a position he has held since October 2015.

During the 2021/22 season Edward will conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra in eleven concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, including five UK premieres. He opened the season with a concert performance of Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, for which the London Philharmonic Choir was joined by the English National Opera Chorus. Other programmes include Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. Edward and the LPO took part in the Enescu Festival in Bucharest in September 2021, and in November will undertake an extensive tour of Germany.

Edward opened the Bergen Philharmonic season in September 2021 with John Adams’ Harmonium. Further highlights include an all-Stravinsky programme and new commissions by Thomas Larcher, Ryan Wigglesworth and Rebecka Ahvenniemi. 

In demand as a guest conductor, the previous two seasons saw Edward debut with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Wiener Symphoniker; while returns included engagements with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Montreal Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano. He also continued his longstanding collaborations with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2010–16, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, whom he has conducted at both the First and Last Night of the BBC Proms.

Music Director of English National Opera for ten years (2006–15), Edward has an ongoing relationship with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where he has conducted productions of La damnation de Faust, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and Werther. In London he has future plans with the Royal Opera House, where he made his debut in 2019 in a new production of Káťa Kabanová and returned for Werther the following season. The 2021/22 season will see Edward make his debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper in a new production of Peter Grimes. Elsewhere, he has conducted at La Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera, Den Norske Opera and Ballet, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Opéra National de Paris.

A passionate supporter of young talent, Edward founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with The Juilliard School of Music and with the Royal Academy of Music, who appointed him their inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Chair in 2014.

Born in Gloucester in 1974, Edward was educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. He went on to become Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include being named Royal Philharmonic Society Award Conductor of the Year (2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009) and receiving an OBE for Services to Music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (2012).

For more information about the LPO, click here.

For more information about Edward Gardner and Askonas Holt, click here.