Mark Elder
International Chair in Conducting
CBE
International Chair in Conducting
Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder is Music Director of the Hallé, a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of Opera Rara. He was Music Director of English National Opera from 1979 to 1993 and has been Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Sir Mark Elder has appeared annually at the BBC Proms in London for many years, including, in 1987 and 2006 the internationally televised Last Night of the Proms. He has worked in many of the most prominent international opera houses including Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, The Met, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam, Zürich and the Bayreuth Festival.
Sir Mark Elder has made many recordings and since the launch of the Hallé label in 2003 his releases have met with universal critical acclaim and have won multiple Gramophone Awards. His recent Opera Rara Semiramide was voted best recording in the 2019 International Opera Awards.
Recent and forthcoming concert engagements include National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Pittsburgh Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Vienna Symphony. Operatic engagements include a complete performance of Parsifal at the BBC Proms with the Hallé and guest engagements at Covent Garden, Paris, The Metropolitan Opera New York, San Francisco and The Dutch National Opera.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honour in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours, was knighted in 2008, and awarded the CBE in 1989. He won an Olivier Award in 1991 for his outstanding work at ENO and in May 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 2011, he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society.
