DavidRobertson
- Conductor
About David
David Robertson was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble InterContemporain.
The 2026/27 season takes David across five continents, including to the Pacific Music Festival as Principal Conductor, Sydney Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Czech Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
Highlights of recent seasons include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
Since his 1996 Metropolitan Opera debut, Robertson has conducted over a dozen productions at the Met, including the 2019/20 season premiere production of Porgy and Bess for which he earned a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2021. At the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, he conducted Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, and Berio’s Outis at Teatro alla Scala.
David serves on the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council, complementing his role as Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Faculty of The Juilliard School, New York.
Contact
Tom Cunningham
Doris Franze
Representation
Partner Managers:
Opus 3 Artists LLC (general management)
Season Highlights
Photos
Sample Programmes
Beethoven: Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op.80 Interval Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op.125
Chopin/Stravinsky: Nocturne in A-flat major, Op.32, No.1 (Instrumentation by Stravinsky) Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra D major, Op.35 Interval Stravinsky: Petrushka
Ligeti: San Francisco Polyphony Adams: Why must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes Interval Rachmaninov: Symphony No.1 in D minor, Op.1
Gubaidulina: Rider on a White Horse (organ improvisation) Interval Widmann: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra "Towards Paradise"
Beethoven: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra D major, Op.61 Interval Adams: Harmonielehre
Chin: Violin Concerto No.2 Interval Mahler: Symphony No.1 "Titan
Debussy: Images I Ligeti: Piano Concerto 1980/88 Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole for Orchestra
Eötvös: Fermata, pour quinze musiciens (création française) Eötvös: Adventures of the Dominant Seventh Chord, pour alto (chamber music) Iannotta: Nouvelle œuvre, pour grand ensemble (création mondiale) Interval Eötvös: Joyce, pour clarinette (chamber music) Eötvös: Chinese Opera, pour ensemble
Srnka: Superorganism Interval Janáček: Putování dušičky (The Pilgrimage of a Little Soul) for violin and orchestra Dvořák: Mazurek for violin and orchestra, Op.49 Suk: Praga
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 Interval Gershwin: Rhapsody in blue
News
Press
Ligeti, Firsova and Brahms with New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall, New YorkOct 2023It’s always a good sign when an orchestra’s players light up with smiles at a conductor. And on Thursday night at David Geffen Hall, that happened over and over, with grins passing between the musicians of the New York Philharmonic and its podium guest, David Robertson, throughout a beguiling, smart program.
- Anastasia Tsioulcas, The New York Times – Critic’s Pick
- 20 October 2023
Schönberg, Copland and Adams with Sāo Paulo State Symphony Orchestra
Sao Paulo, BrazilApr 2022I leave the best for last, which was the presence of the brilliant conductor David Robertson, surely one of the most accomplished conductors of today for the repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries. With great musicality and clear gestures, Robertson is a sure guide in scores of great complexity.
- Concerto
- 08 April 2022
Mahler Symphony 7 Los Angeles Philharmonic 22-03-2022
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los AngelesMar 2022David Robertson, back at Disney Hall [with the LA Phil] for the first time in five years, led Mahler’s most enigmatic, least-played symphony as if in visceral acknowledgment of war and its implications… Robertson did not deny Mahler his glorious lyricism, but he defied his nostalgia. That meant marches that marched with relentless energy. It meant startling percussive accents. It meant whipping up a frenzy. The wind playing was spectacular. The brass filled every sonic inch of Disney. There was no sleeping in this night music, no time to stop and smell the roses… When everything is on the line, you can’t always look back. That’s the only way to preserve nostalgia for the future.
- Los Angeles Times
- 25 March 2022
Janáček, Kát’a Kabanová
Opera di RomaFeb 2022The conductor David Robertson clearly returns every orchestral detail of this complex score, which he evidently knows well: his is an objective reading, without sentimentality, but he does not let the feelings, passions and impulses of these characters escape.
- Giornale della Musica
- 27 January 2022
