Leading British conductor Edward Gardner: launch of his first Ring at Norwegian Opera, War Requiem & Benjamin opera with London Philharmonic Orchestra, debuts with San Diego & Detroit Symphonies, new recordings, & much more in 2026-27

Edward Gardner (photo: Benjamin Ealovega)

(September 2026) — Leading British conductor Edward Gardner is “a conducting force to be reckoned with” (The New York Times) in 2026–27. In his third season as Music Director of Oslo’s Norwegian Opera and Ballet, he launches the first complete Ring cycle of his career with a new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, as well as leading Richard Strauss’s Elektra and premiering a new production of Edvard Fliflet Bræin’s Anne Pedersdotter at the Bergen International Festival. A consummate choral conductor, Gardner opens his sixth season as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) with star-studded performances of Britten’s War Requiem that mark the first of four major choral concerts with the orchestra. Other LPO highlights include a semi-staged concert presentation of Lessons in Love and Violence, the third opera by composer-in-residence Sir George Benjamin; world premieres of new LPO commissions from Mark Simpson and Dame Judith Weir; and tours of China, Spain, and Germany. The conductor’s guest engagements include spring debuts with both the Detroit and San Diego Symphonies, and returns to the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Bavarian State Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and WDR Sinfonieorchester, before he helms a new production of Britten’s Death in Venice at the Bavarian State Opera next summer. A prolific and award-winning recording artist, Gardner also expands his discography with a handful of new albums including a Verdi collaboration with superstar soprano Lise Davidsen, available this week, followed by new Berlioz, Wagner, Elgar, Bartók, and Thomas Larcher titles, as well as world premiere recordings of new commissions from Robert Laidlow, David Sawer, and Freya Waley-Cohen.

**Norwegian Opera: Das Rheingold, Elektra, & more**

A major figure in the opera world, Gardner served for eight seasons as Music Director of London’s English National Opera and has led productions at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Scala, Opéra national de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Now, as Music Director of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, he is set to lead all four operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen over the next three seasons. Scheduled to conclude with two complete cycles over just two weeks, this undertaking not only marks the first complete Oslo Ring in a full quarter-century, but also the first of the conductor’s career. He and the company kick off their ambitious project with Das Rheingold, starring baritone Yngve Søberg as Wotan, baritone Johannes Weisser as Alberich, tenor Magnus Staveland as Loge, and mezzo-soprano Astrid Nordstad as Fricka, in a new production by Tatjana Gürbaca, a German director known for her complex, psychologically precise approach to character and relationships (Jan 22–Feb 11). Although Gardner has never previously tackled the Ring, he is no stranger to Wagner, having conducted past productions of Der fliegende Holländer, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal. Captured live at the Oslo house, his Norwegian Opera recording of Der fliegende Holländer was a 2026 International Classical Music Award nominee that won Best Opera at the 2025 Gramophone Awards.

The conductor bookends Das Rheingold with two further Norwegian Opera offerings: Richard Strauss’s Elektra, in which Norwegian Critics’ Award-winning soprano Elisabeth Teige headlines a contemporary staging by Hedda Award-winning director Ole Anders Tandberg (Sep 12–Oct 4), and a choral-orchestral concert performance of Verdi’s Requiem (March 18 & 19). Gardner then completes his Norwegian Opera season on tour at the Bergen International Festival, where he premieres the company’s new production of Anne Pedersdotter, a 1971 opera by Norway’s Edvard Fliflet Bræin about the nation’s most notorious witch trial, with Kirsten Flagstad Prize-winning soprano Victoria Randem in the title role (May 29 & 31).

**LPO: The War Requiem & other choral masterworks**

Recognized with a Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance for his account of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Gardner is never happier than when conducting choral music. Testifying to this dedication, he showcases multiple masterpieces of the genre in his sixth season with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), starting with Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem (Sep 26). The composer was a lifelong pacifist, whose Requiem stands as a powerful and profoundly moving indictment of war and its devastating human cost. Juxtaposing the traditional Latin text of the Catholic mass for the dead with the anti-war poetry of slain World War I soldier Wilfred Owen, the work is a towering monument of the 20th-century choral literature. Gardner’s way with Britten’s music represents “a formidable achievement, at once fiercely intelligent and visceral in its power” (The Guardian), and his recording of the composer’s Peter Grimes not only secured the Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording but also won Gramophone’s 2021 Recording of the Year. For their all too timely Opening Night performance of The War Requiem, he and the LPO will be joined by an expanded chorus, comprising the London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus, and Tiffin Boys’ Choir and Girls’ Choir. Drawing inspiration from Britten’s original choice of a Soviet soprano, British tenor, and German baritone, to evoke nations opposed in World War II, their three first-rate soloists are Gramophone Award-winning Welsh-Ukrainian soprano Natalya Romaniw; British tenor Allan Clayton, whose voice “exemplifies the essence of opera as a theatrical extremity of expression” (The New York Times); and German-British baritone Benjamin Appl, whose artistry has been called “unbearably moving” (The Times of London). Gardner considers Clayton “the leading British tenor of any generation,” and their previous collaborations include last year’s world premiere production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen at the Royal Opera House, for which the tenor received an Olivier Award. After reuniting with Clayton for Death in Venice this summer, Gardner looks forward to working with him on a U.S. tour of The War Requiem in 2027–28.

The London Philharmonic Choir celebrates its 80th anniversary next year. To mark the occasion, Gardner and the orchestra join the ensemble for another heartfelt British prayer for peace – Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem – featuring International Opera Award-winning soprano Louise Alder and bass-baritone Gerald Finley, who headlines the conductor’s award-winning recording of Der fliegende Holländer. The program opens with Fauré’s beloved Requiem and the world premiere of Respire, Inspire, a new work commissioned for the occasion from Dame Judith Weir (Feb 27).

Gardner, the LPO, and the London Philharmonic Choir perform two more choral masterworks at the close of the coming season. After undertaking Schumann’s fantastical secular oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, with Christiane Karg, Samantha Clarke, Beth Taylor, Siyabonga Maqungo, Lunga Eric Hallam, and Thomas Oliemans (April 10), they conclude the season with Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, featuring Natalie Lewis, Michael Spyres, and Yngve Søberg (April 24). Of Gardner’s recording of the work with the LPO forces, BBC Music Magazine writes: “The impact of Edward Gardner’s cogent, understanding interpretation … cuts vividly through.”

LPO continued: George Benjamin, world premieres, & international tours

Gardner is widely recognized as “an ideal ambassador for British music” (The New York Times), and it was under his auspices that the LPO appointed Sir George Benjamin, one of England’s foremost composers, for a three-year term as Composer-in-Residence. This collaboration began last fall with a season-opening performance of Benjamin’s music, in which Gardner’s “meticulous blend of vitality and precision” (The Guardian) helped reveal “an orchestra at its blazing best” (The Times of London). Now, the conductor features works by his eminent compatriot in two upcoming LPO programs. This fall, they present Lessons in Love and Violence (2018), Benjamin’s third opera. Set to a libretto by the composer’s regular playwright-partner, Martin Crimp, and based on the life of England’s King Edward II, this will star Grammy-nominated soprano Georgia Jarman and baritone Nathaniel Sullivan, a top prizewinner in the Washington International Competition, in a semi-staged, one-night-only concert performance directed by Dan Ayling (Nov 25). Ayling previously assisted Katie Mitchell in creating the opera’s Covent Garden world premiere, before directing revivals in Chicago, Barcelona, and on tour.

Early next year, Gardner and the LPO return to Benjamin’s music, with a performance of the composer’s Concerto for Orchestra alongside Tippett’s Fourth Symphony and Sibelius’s Swan of Tuonela and Violin Concerto, featuring Sibelius Competition laureate Pekka Kuusisto (Feb 24). Both composers are among those on whose music the conductor has already made his mark; lauded as “Tippett’s greatest living conductor” (Gramophone), Gardner won the 2025 Sibelius Prize for his promotion of the Finnish composer’s music.

Weir’s Respire, Inspire (see above) is one of two LPO commissions to receive its world premiere from the conductor and orchestra next season. The other is a major new Piano Concerto, co-commissioned with the Bergen Philharmonic, Philharmonie Essen, and Cincinnati Symphony from Mark Simpson, former Composer-in-Association of the BBC Philharmonic (Oct 23). Gardner’s soloist is Grammy-nominated German pianist Tamara Stefanovich, with whom he subsequently reunites for the work’s Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic (see below). The LPO’s October program also features Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, heard complete in the version from 1910, as in Gardner’s upcoming appearances in Munich and Detroit (see below).

Beyond the UK, Gardner leads the LPO on three high-profile international fall tours, with programs featuring symphonies by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms in Beijing (Oct 12 & 13); Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony and Sibelius’s Fifth in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Zaragoza, Madrid, and Valencia (Oct 26–30); and Sibelius’s Fifth and Rachmaninoff’s First in Rotterdam and seven cities in Germany (Dec 1–9).

San Diego & Detroit Symphony debuts

A favored guest on both sides of the Atlantic, Gardner returns to the States for debuts with two major U.S. orchestras next spring. For his first performances with the San Diego Symphony, he leads an ocean-themed program of Mendelssohn’s youthful concert overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Tchaikovsky’s Shakespearean fantasy overture The Tempest, Debussy’s La mer, and Ravel’s song cycle Shéhérazade, featuring two-time Grammy winner Sasha Cooke (March 5 & 7). Next, in his first appearances with the Detroit Symphony, Gardner conducts Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, with Montreal International Competition-winning Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejérvári as soloist, Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, and (as in London and Detroit) Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, performed complete (March 12–14).

These debuts follow the success of Gardner’s collaborations with five major U.S. orchestras last season. His return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra drew a five-star review from Bachtrack, which found that “impressive and subtle details teemed throughout this stupendous concert,” showing “an orchestra fully in tune with the conductor.” Gardner made “a distinctive debut” with the Pittsburgh Symphony, where his “fresh takes on the familiar revealed a fruitful and sympathetic collaboration” (Bachtrack). After his return to the San Francisco Symphony, Seen and Heard International concluded: “Gardner certainly knows his way around English music … and a motivated San Francisco Symphony responded with vitality.” Similarly, writing about his collaboration with the Dallas Symphony, the Texas Classical Review admired his “savory performance of British works that highlighted the orchestra’s wide palette of instrumental and vocal colors.” Singling out their “searing Britten and Lutosławski,” the Washington Classical Review remarked that his visits to the National Symphony Orchestra “always reward the listener with electrifying performances and unusual repertoire.”

Bergen Philharmonic, Bavarian State Orchestra, & more in Europe

In Europe, Gardner returns to Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he serves as Honorary Conductor, after concluding a nine-year tenure as Chief Conductor in 2024. On the heels of their success at the 2025 Gramophone Awards, where the ensemble was named Orchestra of the Year, Gardner and the orchestra reunite for the Norwegian premiere of Simpson’s new Piano Concerto (Nov 19) and Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony (Nov 18 & 19), followed by a Viennese-themed pairing of Zemlinsky and Mahler (April 1 & 2).

Focusing once again on choral repertoire, Gardner conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Choir in grand-scale performances of Rossini’s wrenching Stabat Mater, featuring vocal soloists Emily Pogorelc, Ekaterine Buachidze, Edgardo Rocha, and Giorgi Manoshvili, in both Utrecht and Amsterdam (Nov 6 & 8). The conductor’s other European guest engagements comprise returns to Munich’s Bavarian State Orchestra for Stravinsky’s The Firebird (Feb 16 & 17); to the same city’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for a pairing of Elgar’s Second Symphony with John Adams’s concerto After the Fall, featuring Grammy-winning Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (April 15 & 16); to Cologne’s WDR Sinfonieorchester for Schreker and Richard Strauss (June 11 & 12); to the Iceland Symphony for Beethoven’s Ninth (Oct 8 & 9); and to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a Scottish tour featuring mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor in Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre (May 6–8). The conductor’s season-opening account of the latter with the LPO prompted The Times of London to declare: “You couldn’t ask for a more spectacular rendition of Berlioz’s cantata.”

These 2026–27 engagements anticipate Gardner’s return to Munich’s Bavarian State Opera next summer for Britten’s Death in Venice, starring Allan Clayton in a major new production by International Opera Award-nominated director Vasily Barkhatov (July 16–28).

New recordings: Bartók, Elgar, world premieres, & more

Beyond the concert hall, Gardner is a prolific recording artist who has already been recognized with a Grammy nomination and multiple Gramophone Awards. Over the coming season, he expands his unusually wide-ranging discography with multiple new titles. Those recorded live with the LPO for its dedicated LPO Live label include Bartók’s ballets The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin, due for release on October 23; an all-Elgar program of In the South, Sea Pictures, and the “Enigma” Variations, due for release on April 23; a forthcoming Berlioz cycle, featuring Roméo et Juliette and the Symphonie fantastique; and the world premiere recordings of three LPO commissions: Robert Laidlow’s Exoplanets, David Sawer’s Sphinx, and Freya Waley-Cohen’s Mother Tongue, scheduled for release next spring. Other upcoming titles include a celebration of Verdi’s greatest heroines with the LPO and Gramophone Award-winning Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, due for release by Decca on September 11; The Ring without Words, Lorin Maazel’s evening-length synthesis of orchestral music from Wagner’s Ring cycle, recorded with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra to mark this year’s 150th anniversary of the first Ring at Bayreuth, due for release by Decca on January 27; and Thomas Larcher’s Piano Concerto, captured with Kirill Gerstein and the Bergen Philharmonic, scheduled for release over the coming season.

Gardner’s recent LPO Live titles include Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen and An Alpine Symphony, released this past June; BBC Music Magazine deemed the performances “majestically judged by Gardner and the LPO,” while Gramophone welcomed the album as “a very fine release, and one that makes one eager to hear even more Strauss from this conductor.” Similarly, when Gardner and the orchestra performed An Alpine Symphony live at London’s BBC Proms this summer, Seen and Heard International observed: “Gardner and the LPO scale new heights. … The real triumph was how it held together, and that is due firmly to Gardner. … A superb concert, by any standards.”

Edward Gardner: 2026–27 engagements

Sep 12, 16, 19, 23; Oct 2 & 4
Oslo, Norway
Norwegian National Opera & Ballet
STRAUSS: Elektra

Sep 26
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BRITTEN: The War Requiem

Sep 27
Saffron Wallen, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Errollyn WALLEN: Mighty River
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto (with Clara-Jumi Kang, violin)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Oct 8 & 9
Reykjavík, Iceland
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Alina Ibragimova, violin; Oct 8 only)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9

Oct 12 & 13: concerts in Beijing, China with London Philharmonic Orchestra

Oct 12
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3
MOZART: arias from Don Giovanni, Così fan tutti, & Le nozze di Figaro (with Liao Changyong, baritone)
MOZART: Symphony No. 40

Oct 13
MOZART: Don Giovanni Overture
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 (with Gerhard Oppitz, piano)
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2

Oct 21
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto (with Julia Fischer, violin)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Symphony

Oct 23
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
HOWELL: Lamia
Mark SIMPSON: Piano Concerto (world premiere of LPO co-commission; with Tamara Stefanovich, piano)
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (complete ballet 1910)

Oct 24
Saffron Walden, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Mark SIMPSON: Piano Concerto (with Tamara Stefanovich, piano)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Symphony

Oct 26–30: tour of Spain with London Philharmonic Orchestra

Oct 26: Barcelona, Spain
Oct 27: Zaragoza, Spain
CASALS: Preludi de l’oratori El Pessebre
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto (with Julia Fischer, violin)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Oct 28: Madrid Spain
CASALS: Preludi de l’oratori El Pessebre
BRAHMS: Double Concerto (with Julia Fischer, violin; Daniel Müller-Schott, cello)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Oct 29: Madrid, Spain
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto (with Julia Fischer, violin)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Symphony

Oct 30: Valencia, Spain
BRAHMS: Double Concerto (with Julia Fischer, violin; Daniel Müller-Schott, cello)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Symphony

Nov 6 & 8: concerts with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Nov 6: Utrecht, Netherlands
Nov 8: Amsterdam, Netherlands
BUSONI: Berceuse élégiaque (Nov 6 only)
R. STRAUSS: Death and Transfiguration (Nov 6 only)
ROSSINI: Stabat Mater

Nov 18 & 19
Bergen, Norway
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
BERLIOZ: King Lear Overture (Nov 19 only)
Mark SIMPSON: Piano Concerto (with Tamara Stefanovich, piano; Nov 19 only)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”)

Nov 25
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
George BENJAMIN (LPO 2026–27 Composer-in-Residence): Lessons in Love and Violence

Nov 28
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
RACHMANINOFF: Youth Symphony
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1

Dec 1–9: tour of Germany and Netherlands with London Philharmonic Orchestra

   Dec 1: Hannover, Germany
   Dec 2: Cologne, Germany
   Dec 6: Rotterdam, Netherlands

RACHMANINOFF: Youth Symphony
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 (with Alice Sara Ott, piano)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Dec 3: Erlangen, Germany
RACHMANINOFF: Youth Symphony
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Dec 5: Essen, Germany
RACHMANINOFF: Youth Symphony
ELGAR: Cello Concerto (with Anastasia Kobekina, cello)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

Dec 7: Hamburg, Germany
SHOSTAKOVICH: Festive Overture
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 (with Alice Sara Ott, piano)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1

Dec 8: Coesfeld, Germany
RACHMANINOFF: Youth Symphony
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1

Dec 9: Frankfurt, Germany
SHOSTAKOVICH: Festive Overture
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 (with Alice Sara Ott, piano)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1

Jan 22, 24, 28, 31; Feb 4, 6, 9, & 11
Oslo, Norway
Norwegian National Opera & Ballet
WAGNER: Das Rheingold (new production)

Feb 16 & 17
Munich, Germany
Bavarian State Orchestra
DUKAS: La Péri
YSAŸE: Amitié (with David Schultheiß & Matjaž Bogataj, violins)
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (1910 full ballet)

Feb 24
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
George BENJAMIN (LPO 2026–27 Composer-in-Residence): Concerto for Orchestra
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto (with Pekka Kuusisto, violin)
SIBELIUS: The Swan of Tuonela
TIPPETT: Symphony No. 4

Feb 27
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Judith WEIR: Respire, Inspire (world premiere of LPO commission)
FAURÉ: Requiem
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Dona nobis pacem
(with Louise Alder, soprano; Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; London Philharmonic Choir)

March 5 & 7
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony Orchestra (debut)
MENDELSSOHN: Overture “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Tempest (fantasy overture)
RAVEL: Shéhérazade (with Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano)
DEBUSSY: La mer

March 12–14
Detroit, MI
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (debut)
L. BOULANGER: D’un matin de printemps
BARTÓK: Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Zoltán Fejérvári, piano)
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (complete ballet, 1910)

March 18 & 19
Oslo, Norway
Norwegian National Opera & Ballet
VERDI: Requiem

April 1 & 2
Bergen, Norway
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: “Adagio” from Symphony No. 10
ZEMLINSKY: Lyric Symphony

April 7
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
SCHREKER: “Nachtstück” from Der ferne Klang
KORNGOLD: Violin Concerto (with Bomsori Kim, violin)
ZEMLINSKY: Die Seejungfrau

April 10
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Das Paradies und die Peri

April 15 & 16
Munich, Germany
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
WALTON: Improvisation on a Theme by Benjamin Britten
John ADAMS: After the Fall (with Víkingur Ólafsson, piano)
ELGAR: Symphony No. 2

April 24
London, UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
ELGAR: The Dream of Gerontius

May 6–8: concerts in Scotland with Royal Scottish National Orchestra
   May 6: Dundee
   May 7: Edinburgh
   May 8: Glasgow
BONIS: Trois femmes de légende: Salomé
BONIS: Trois femmes de légende: Ophélie
BONIS: Trois femmes de légende: The Dream of Cleopatra
BERLIOZ: La mort de Cléopâtre (with Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1

May 29 & 31
Bergen, Norway
Bergen International Festival
Norwegian National Opera & Ballet
Edvard Fliflet BRÆIN: Anne Pedersdotter (new production)

June 11 & 12
Cologne, Germany
WDR Sinfonieorchester
SCHREKER:Prelude to a Drama
R. STRAUSS: Burlesque (with Tom Borrow, piano)
R. STRAUSS: An Alpine Symphony

July 16, 19, 23, 25, & 28
Munich, Germany
Bavarian State Opera
BRITTEN: Death in Venice

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