Conductors
Sir Mark Elder
Sir Mark Elder became Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia in September 2025. He was Music Director of the Hallé from 2000 – 2024 and now holds the position of Conductor Emeritus and has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2023. He was previously Music Director of English National Opera (1979–1993) and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
He has enjoyed long relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras as well as working with leading symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has appeared annually at the Proms for many years, including – in 1987 and 2006 – the internationally televised Last Night.
He has enjoyed a long association with the Royal Opera House, where he celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2026, and has appeared in many other prominent theatres including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Paris, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich, Dutch National Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He was the first English conductor to conduct a new production at the Bayreuth Festival.
From 2011 to 2019 he was Artistic Director of Opera Rara, for whom he has made many award-winning recordings, and he has recorded a wide repertoire with the Hallé, including a complete RING cycle, Parsifal and the three great Elgar oratorios. Recent CD releases include award-winning recordings with the LSO of Meyerbeer’s Le prophète and Delius’s A Mass of Life with the Bergen Philharmonic
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2017, knighted in 2008 and awarded the CBE in 1989. In May 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society, and he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011. He holds the Barbirolli Chair at the Royal Academy of Music.