The Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Stéphane Denève (Music Director)

Stéphane Denève Music Director

Stéphane Denève, now recognised internationally as an exciting young conductor of the highest calibre, became Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in September 2005.

He has a great affinity with the music of his native France, and has conducted works from Grétry, through Debussy and Ravel, to Connesson, as well as Berlioz, Roussel, Fauré and Poulenc. At the same time, he is very much at home in a broad range of repertoire, particularly in the music of the romantic era, but also in the works of Mozart and the early twentieth-century composers.

During the 2005/06 Season, Stéphane Denève has also conducted the Verdi Orchestra di Milano, Montreal Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and enjoys return visits to the Washington National Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In May 2006 he will conduct a Poulenc triple-bill at the Théâtre royal de La Monnaie. In October 2004, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, with Così fan tutte, and also at the Netherlands Opera in a new production of L’ Amour des Trois Oranges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

In the last few seasons, Stéphane Denève has conducted such orchestras as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Sydney and Melbourne Symphonies, Los Angeles Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. He has also conducted productions (Marriage of Figaro, Don Quichotte, La Bohème) at the Paris National Opera, Faust in Salzburg, Peter Grimes at Montpellier Opera, Béatrice et Bénédict at Bologna Teatro Comunale and Pelléas et Mélisande, Erwartung, Carmen and Bluebeard’s Castle at Cincinnati Opera.

A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he was awarded a unanimous First Prize in 1995, Stéphane Denève began his career as Sir Georg Solti’s assistant for Bluebeard’s Castle with the Orchestre de Paris (1995) and Don Giovanni at the Paris National Opera (1996). He also assisted Georges Prêtre for Turandot at the Paris National Opera (1997) and Seiji Ozawa for Dialogues des Carmélites at the Saito Kinen Festival (1998).