Edward Gardner

Edward Gardner is Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, a position he will relinquish at the end of this season. From August 2024 he will undertake the Music Directorship of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet (DNO&B).

In demand as a guest conductor, recent seasons saw Edward debut with The Cleveland Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Wiener Symphoniker; while returns included engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Montreal Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano.

In the field of opera, following eight years as Music Director at English National Opera, Edward built a strong relationship with New York’s Metropolitan Opera where he has conducted productions of Damnation of Faust, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and Werther. In London there are plans to return to the Royal Opera House after productions of Káťa Kabanová and Werther, and in Munich he returns to the Bayerischer Staatsoper following Britten’s Peter Grimes and Verdi’s Otello. Elsewhere, he has conducted at La Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Opéra national de Paris.

During the 2023/24 season Edward will conduct the London Philharmonic in 10 concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and on tour in Europe and Asia. Their recording of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage recently received the 2023 Gramophone Opera Award. His final concerts with the Bergen Philharmonic will feature Mahler’s Symphony No.8 (Symphony of a Thousand) to mark the closing of the Bergen International Festival.

As Artistic Advisor of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, during 2023/24 he will conduct productions of Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy. In Spring 2026 they will commence a Ring Cycle.

Edward is based in Oslo and London