Conductor David Robertson

David Robertson – conductor, composer, artist, thinker, and American musical visionary – occupies some of the most prominent platforms on the international music scene.  A highly sought-after podium figure in the worlds of opera, orchestral music, and new music, Robertson is celebrated worldwide as a champion of contemporary composers, an ingenious and adventurous programmer, and a masterful communicator whose passionate advocacy for the art form is widely recognized.  A consummate and deeply collaborative musician, Robertson is hailed for his intensely committed music making.

Musical celebration of the Pierre Boulez Centennial will punctuate and highlight David Robertson’s 2024-25 season, underscoring his foundational pedagogical relationship with the late composer and conductor, and his tenure as Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain (1992-2000).  On October 9, Robertson leads a concert with musicians of the Juilliard Orchestra and New York Philharmonic at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, featuring Boulez’s Sur Incises, of which Robertson led the world premiere with the EIC in 1998.  On January 25, with the New York Philharmonic, Robertson reprises one of Boulez’s legendary “Rug Concerts” from 1974, when he was Music Director of the Orchestra, an amalgam of works by Bach, Schubert, Webern, Stravinsky, and Boulez’s own “Improvisations on Mallarmé,” I and II.  In summer 2025, Robertson visits the Aspen Music Festival (July 9) and Lucerne Festival (August 30-31): first to lead two Boulez works with the Aspen New Music Ensemble, Sur Incises and his 1971 …explosante-fixe… a tribute to Stravinsky who died that year; and then to lead two additional Boulez works with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Figures—Doubles—Prismes, and Poésie pour pouvoir.

In addition to the New York Philharmonic, in the 2024-25 season Robertson conducts the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Seoul, Leipzig, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.  Musical highlights include the Schönberg Piano Concerto with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Pierre-Laurent Aimard (September 26-28); works by Betsy Jolas with The Philadelphia Orchestra (October 18-20); Webern, Berg, Wagner, and Schönberg with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, Augustin Hadelich, and Ausrine Stundyte (November 14-15); the music of Copland, Ellington and Gershwin with The Cleveland Orchestra and Marc-André Hamelin (November 29-December 1); music by Bernard Lang, Philippe Manoury, and Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto No. 2 “Scherben der Stille” with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Leonida Kavakos (December 20); as Creative Partner with the Utah Symphony, the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 with Orli Shaham and works by Schönberg and Brahms (November 1-2), a film/score performance of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (January 2) and the film music of John Williams (January 3-4), Steve Reich’s The Desert Music and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (January 31-February 1); the world premiere of John Adams’ After the Fall with the San Francisco Symphony (January 16-19); John Adams’ Dr. Atomic Symphony and works by Brahms and Sibelius with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Kirill Gerstein (May 23-24); and Haydn’s The Creation with the Seattle Symphony, Susanna Phillips, Nicholas Phan, and Eric Owens (June 5-7).  David Robertson conducts Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, and works by Korngold and Rachmaninoff with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Gil Shaham at the Philharmonie Berlin (March 2), and then leads the orchestra on a European tour (March 5-9).  Robertson leads a European tour of the Australian Youth Orchestra (July 18-31), culminating with a performance at the Sydney Opera House (July 31).

2024-25 is David Robertson’s seventh academic year as Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Faculty of The Juilliard School in New York, and he continues his role as a member of the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council, an international body created to guide Juilliard’s young Chinese campus.  He conducts the Juilliard Orchestra at Allice Tully Hall on September 16, and at Carnegie Hall on April 14.

Robertson appears with many major ensembles and festivals on five continents, including: the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, Vienna Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Staatskapelle Dresden, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the China NCPA Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra; and at the Lucerne Festival, Berlin Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms, Musica Viva Festival in Munich, the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Tongyeong International Music Festival, and the Kaohsiung Festival, among others.

2019 was David Robertson’s valedictory season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the culmination of a six-year tenure leading the top orchestra of the Southern Hemisphere, and he continues to return as guest conductor.  Robertson completed his transformative 13-year tenure as Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2018, where he solidified the orchestra’s status as one of the nation’s most enduring and innovative, and reinvigorated its American and European presence through regular touring programs.  For the SLSO, he created dynamic relationships with a wide spectrum of artists, and garnered a 2014 Grammy Award, Best Orchestral Performance, for the Nonesuch release of John Adams’ City Noir.  Among many other recordings, the historic Robertson-SLSO association, included the 2019 Blue Engine Records release of Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.  In addition to Sydney and St. Louis, Robertson has served in artistic leadership positions at musical institutions including the Orchestre National de Lyon, and, as a protégé of Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, which he led on an extensive North American tour.  At the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he served as Principal Guest Conductor.  Robertson has served as a Perspectives Artist at Carnegie Hall, where he has conducted, among others, The Met Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and The Juilliard Orchestra.

Building upon his prolific association with The Metropolitan Opera, Robertson conducted the encore performances in In Fall 2021 of James Robinson’s lauded 2019 production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which featured the returns of Eric Owens and Angel Blue in the lead roles.  Robertson’s musical leadership of the 2019-20 season Porgy and Bess production premiere was honored at the 63^rd Grammy Awards, in March 2021, as Best Opera Recording.  Preceding this rich success, Robertson’s deep relationship with the Met Opera includes the premiere of Phelim McDermott’s celebrated 2018 production of Così fan tutte, set in 1950s Coney Island, and, since his Met debut in 1996 with The Makropulos Case, he has conducted a breathtaking range of Met projects, including the 2014 Met premiere of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer; the 2016 revival of Janáček’s Jenůfa, then its first Met performances in nearly a decade; the premiere production of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (2013); and many favorites, from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to Britten’s Billy Budd.  Robertson conducts projects at the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including La Scala, Théâtre du Châtelet, Bayerische Staatsoper (orchestra), the San Francisco Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera.  In January 2022, David Robertson made his debut with the Rome Opera conducting Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová to great critical acclaim.

Robertson is the recipient of numerous musical and artistic awards, and in 2010 was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.  In addition to his Juilliard roles, he is devoted to supporting young musicians and has worked with students at the festivals of Aspen, Tanglewood, Lucerne, at the Paris Conservatoire, Music Academy of the West, and the National Orchestra Institute.  In 2014, he led the Coast to Coast US tour of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA.

Born in Santa Monica, California, David Robertson was educated at London’s Royal Academy of Music, where he studied horn and composition before turning to orchestral conducting.  He is married to pianist Orli Shaham, and lives in New York.