He is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2021), Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra (2015) and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, following his fifteen year tenure as their Chief Conductor (2006-2021). He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor and subsequently Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (2016-2022), Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013-2020), Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009–2013), and Principal Guest Conductor of St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre, where he began his career as Resident Conductor (1994–1997).
He has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Montreal Orchestras. He has appeared at Festivals such as Edinburgh, Grafenegg, Glyndebourne and at the BBC Proms as well as at venues such as the Opéra National de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Amongst a wide discography, his Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Elgar symphony cycles with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have garnered worldwide acclaim. With the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, he has released cycles of Scriabin’s symphonies and Strauss’ tone poems, and selected symphonies of Prokofiev and Myaskovsky.
In the 2021/22 season, he inaugurated his Music Directorship at the RPO with concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and a major North American tour culminating at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Highlights of the 2022/23 season include Mahler’s choral symphonies at the Royal Albert Hall and tours to Germany, Spain, Japan, China and South Korea with the Royal Philharmonic, and his debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valencia. He returns as a guest to work with orchestras across the globe including the Cleveland Orchestra, Berlin Radio and Barcelona Symphonies, the Dresden, Israel and Netherlands Radio Philharmonics, and the Spanish National Orchestra, and returns to the Bayerisches Staatsoper for performances of Boris Godunov in the prestigious summer Festspiele.
