Stéphane Denève
Stéphane Denève, now recognized internationally as a young conductor of the highest calibre, made his inaugural appearance as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in September 2005 with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In recent seasons, Stéphane Denève conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milan, Montreal Symphony, Washington National Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. In July and August 2006 he conducted the Russian National Orchestra at the Napa Valley and Tuscan Sun Festivals, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the BBC Proms in London and the Edinburgh International Festival. His 2006-07 season included appearances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milan, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic, and in the United States with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, St Louis Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony.

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).

During those years, Stéphane Denève developed relationships with such orchestras as the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Orchestre National d’Ile de France. In December 1997 Stéphane Denève made his debut in Germany with Die Zauberflöte at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, and was immediately engaged on the conducting staff from the following season where he conducted an wide range of opera repertoire during a two-season contract.

Stéphane Denève 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 by Mozart and the early twentieth-century composers.

Stéphane Denève enjoys a special relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Verdi Orchestra Milan, with whom he makes regular appearances. In North America, he has conducted the Washington National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Houston Symphony and St. Louis Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Detroit, Indianapolis and Seattle Symphony Orchestras.

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. He has also conducted productions of Marriage of Figaro, Don Quichotte, and La Boheme 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.