philharmonie zuidnederland & Duncan Ward
Biography philharmonie zuidnederland & Duncan Ward
Duncan Ward
is Chief Conductor of philharmonie zuidnederland (South Netherlands Philharmonic), and Music Director of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, a new position created in 2020 by the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
2022/23 sees Duncan make his debut at the Metropolitan Opera conducting The Magic Flute, and Luxembourg Opera with Kurt Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Concert performances include with the Vienna Radio Symphony (touring Salzburg and Dortmund), Frankfurt Radio Symphony and NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestras, and he conducts the opening ceremony of Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchester, broadcast live on TV. He continues cherished collaborations with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, and Musikollegium Winterthur.
From 2012-14 Duncan was Conducting Scholar of the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchester-Akademie, to which he was appointed on the recommendation of Sir Simon Rattle. And from 2015 – 2017, he was Principal Conductor of Sinfonia Viva – one of the UK’s most dynamic and versatile ensembles. He also held the post of Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
Former operatic engagements include Don Pasquale, Hamlet and Cendrillon for Glyndebourne-on-Tour, Hamlet, Rigoletto and Salome for Oper Köln, La Traviata at Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, the Chinese premiere of Peter Grimes with a stellar international cast and London Voices, Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone at Deutsche Oper in a new production by Peter Sellars, Clemency and Trouble in Tahiti for Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the German premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet for Opera Cologne, Death in Venice with Mark Padmore at the St Endellion Festival, and opera galas with singers from Venera Gimadieva to Rolando Villazon.
Praised equally for his ‘viscerally exciting’ performances of Beethoven and Haydn symphonies as his committed and sensitive interpretations of demanding new works, Duncan is passionate about a hugely wide-ranging repertoire. He is as at home working with period instrument ensembles such as Balthasar Neumann or Insula, elite chamber orchestras such as Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the major symphony orchestras of the BBC, as directing the world’s foremost contemporary music ensembles like Ensemble Modern or Ensemble Intercontemporain. This is not to mention his acclaimed work with the homeless performers of Streetwise Opera, directing 500 amateur musicians in a supersize Riley 'In C' at the Elbphilharmonie, Indian classical collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, and with celebrated Nordic folk band Dreamers' Circus.
Also an accomplished composer, Duncan was BBC Young Composer of the Year in 2005 and subsequently signed by Peters Edition. His works have been performed, recorded and broadcast by ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Endymion Ensemble, Swedish Radio Symphony, the Navarra Quartet, BBC Singers, and Streetwise Opera.
His arrangement of a selection of Dvořák songs for Magdalena Kožená received critical acclaim across Europe and has been recorded on the Pentatone label. Recent commissions include an encore for the Bamberger Symphoniker, premiered under Rafael Payare in March 2019. His 30-minute orchestral work 'Rainbow Beats' for the South African organisation MIAGI (Music Is A Great Investment) was premiered on a major tour of Europe in Summer 2018 in celebration of Nelson Mandela's centenary including performances at the Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus and Verbier Festival.
Born in Kent to a non-musical family, Duncan found an early passion for music and taught himself to conduct in order to direct his first major composition - a musical for his school, aged 13. As a member of the National Youth Orchestra and Junior Trinity he studied conducting with Andrew Morley (alongside horn, piano & composition), and as a student regularly conducted orchestras at the University of Manchester and Royal Northern College of Music, under the guidance of Mark Heron. He was Sir Charles Mackerras Junior Conducting Fellow for Trinity Laban, and participated in masterclasses in 2010 with the LSO/Valery Gergiev, the Staatskapelle Berlin/Daniel Barenboim, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich/David Zinman, and the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra/Pierre Boulez.
Highlights during his two years at the Berliner Philharmoniker included assisting and rehearsal conducting for Die Zauberflöte, Gurre-Lieder, Die Walküre, Britten’s War Requiem, G.F.Haas ‘in vain’ and premieres by Wolfgang Rihm and Benedict Mason. He additionally conducted the Britten 100th Birthday concert with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Ian Bostridge, a Webern concert and production of ‘Kleine’ Manon Lescaut with the Principal Players of the orchestra at their Baden-Baden Easter Festival, and a special concert 'Violins of Hope' with the Berlin Philharmonic Strings to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
