London Philharmonic’s Edward Gardner makes Pittsburgh Symphony debut (May 15 & 17) after returns to National Symphony (Nov 20–23), San Francisco Symphony (Jan 15–17), Dallas Symphony (Jan 22–24), & Chicago Symphony (May 7–9)

(November 2025) — Leading British conductor Edward Gardner returns to the States this week for the first of a string of high-profile U.S. engagements. Celebrated for his interpretations of his compatriots’ music, he features works by British composers in returns to the National Symphony Orchestra (Nov 20–23), San Francisco Symphony (Jan 15–17), Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Jan 22–24), and Chicago Symphony Orchestra (May 7–9), as well as in his Pittsburgh Symphony debut (May 15 & 17). Now in his fifth season as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and his second as Music Director of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, Gardner also maintains a major presence in Europe. Upcoming highlights include a semi-staged Wozzeck, German tour, and new Elgar recording with the London Philharmonic; Don Carlos in Oslo; guest dates with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Danish National Symphony Orchestra; and concerts with Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra – Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year – where he is Honorary Conductor. These engagements follow a pair of recent honors. Gardner has just been recognized with both the 2025 Gramophone Award for Best Opera, for his recording of Der fliegende Holländer, and the 2025 Sibelius Prize, for his promotion of the Finnish composer’s music, adding to accolades that already include the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Conductor of the Year Award, an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, and an OBE for Services to Music.

Showcasing British music in D.C., San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, & Pittsburgh

Gardner is already a favored guest of American orchestras. As New York Arts reports, in his first performances with the San Francisco Symphony, the conductor “brought the house down.” The review continues: “Gardner was whiplash powerful where it mattered and exhibited just the right amount of give and take throughout. This debut was immensely successful.” Similarly, in a recent celebration of Vaughan Williams’s music with the Chicago Symphony, “Gardner led a moving performance of his compatriot’s serene – yet not simplistic – Fifth Symphony, bringing out the symphonic strength as well as an essential spiritual dimension” (Chicago Classical Review).

Vaughan Williams is just one of the British composers championed by Gardner, who is widely recognized as a leading exponent of his compatriots’ music. His London Philharmonic (LPO) appointment was welcomed as one “we can all be happy about,” marking the first time that mainstream British music had seen “an ardent champion leading a top London orchestra in decades” (The Times of London). Captured with the LPO, Gardner’s live account of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time has just been chosen as a November “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone, which proclaims Gardner “Tippett’s greatest living conductor.” Indeed, Gardner’s earlier LPO recording of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage received the Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording in 2023, two years after his interpretation of Britten’s Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic not only secured the same award but also won Gramophone’s Recording of the Year. Acclaimed recordings of Elgar and Walton with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and celebrated productions of Britten operas, including The Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne and Death in Venice at the English National Opera, have further cemented his reputation as a key figure in British music. Of his decision to program works by his compatriots with U.S. orchestras, Gardner says:

“The greatest British music – the music of my childhood and upbringing – deserves to be heard alongside the best-known masterpieces of the orchestral literature. It’s a delight for me to take these works and perform them with leading international orchestras – they bring something fresh to the mix.”

The conductor’s first upcoming U.S. collaboration is in the nation’s capital, where he leads the National Symphony Orchestra in a program of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto, featuring Opus Klassik Award winner Pablo Ferrández, and Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem (Nov 20–23). Britten’s sinfonia is one of the works with which Gardner made his debut last year at New York’s Carnegie Hall, where the piece first premiered 83 years earlier. Of Gardner’s rendition with the LPO, Seen and Heard International writes:

“There is something to be said for having a home-advantage expertise with a creator’s oeuvre. The string section played with a lyrical insistence that was at once vulnerable in emotive quality while firm in musical expression and so suited to Britten. The brass section consistently served velvety textures from their raised seating which, astonishingly, did not overpower the strings and blended exquisitely in the hall.”

Early next year, Gardner returns to the San Francisco Symphony for Vaughan Williams’s Overture from The Wasps, Holst’s The Planets, and Bruch’s Violin Concerto with Randall Goosby, known for his “exquisite tone and sheer virtuosity” (The New York Times) (Jan 15–17). Gardner revisits Holst’s suite a week later, capping an all-British program with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra that opens with Walton’s Coronation Te Deum and the U.S. premiere of Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock by preeminent Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan (Jan 22–24). A previous performance of MacMillan’s music with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra moved The Times to marvel:

“I can’t imagine playing of greater commitment. … Gardner conducted with impressively clear vision and the members of the RSNO played out of their skins for him with a soundscape of dazzling richness.”

Gardner returns to the States for two engagements next spring. With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he conducts Walton’s First Symphony, Barber’s First Essay for Orchestra, and the lyrical Neruda Songs by the late American modernist Peter Lieberson, featuring Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato (May 7–9). After a season-launching account of The Death of Cleopatra with the LPO, The Times concluded:

“DiDonato is an unforgettable Cleopatra. … Add Edward Gardner into the mix, a conductor who excels at the dramatic, and … you couldn’t ask for a more spectacular rendition of Berlioz’s cantata.”

Finally, the conductor makes his Pittsburgh Symphony debut with Flourish with Fireworks by the late English composer Oliver Knussen, who remains “a towering figure in contemporary music” (The Guardian); Britten’s First Piano Concerto, featuring Behzod Abduraimov, “a pianist who simply transcends his instrument” (Gramophone); and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the “Pathétique” (May 15 & 17). The Times hailed Gardner’s previous performance of the Knussen composition as “a four-minute kaleidoscope set alight by the conductor Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a precision and vim that never left them.”

Concerts & tour with London Philharmonic

Over the coming months Gardner conducts eight London Philharmonic Orchestra programs at the Royal Festival Hall, as well as leading the orchestra on tour in Germany. Remaining highlights of their London season include two all-Elgar programs (Nov 26 & Feb 8); the world premiere of Exoplanets, a new LPO commission from Royal Philharmonic Society Composers Prize laureate Robert Laidlow (Nov 29); a focus on 20th-century central European music, with works by Bacewicz, Martinů, Lutosławski, and Janáček (Feb 4), followed by Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater and Bartók’s pantomime ballet, The Wooden Prince (Feb 7); Mussorgsky’s beloved Pictures at an Exhibition (April 1); and a semi-staged production of Berg’s Wozzeck, starring Stéphane Degout and Annette Dasch with the London Voices (April 25). The upcoming German tour takes Gardner and the orchestra to Munich, Essen, Cologne, and Hamburg for Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony and Saint-Saëns’s First Cello Concerto, featuring Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of classical music’s brightest young stars (Dec 3–7).

This marks the second international trip of the season for Gardner and the LPO, who recently returned from a five-city tour of South Korea, following triumphant season-opening concerts in London. After their opening night performance, The Guardian praised the conductor’s “meticulous blend of vitality and precision” in George Benjamin; the way he and the LPO “responded with a weighty yet elegantly sprung accompaniment, their mutual attentiveness creating a keen sense of dialogue” with Yefim Bronfman in Beethoven; and their “edge-of-the-seat interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.” The reviewer observed:

“Gardner … urg[ed] his forces on with elastic phrasing, white-hot dynamics and unfailingly convincing transitions. The protracted opening of the Andante cantabile was almost unbearably sad, with horn and clarinet solos conjuring a mood of bittersweet romance. Syncopated woodwind and skittering strings brought a bracing tang to the insouciant waltz before Gardner plunged resolutely into the finale. Ripping into the development section with a devil-may-care swagger, he gradually let the sunshine in, crafting the music’s major-key metamorphosis in a turbocharged celebration of victory over darkness.”

Don Carlos & more with Norwegian Opera

“The finest British opera conductor of his generation” (The Telegraph, UK), Gardner is now in his second season as Music Director of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. He returns to the Oslo house next year for Verdi’s Don Carlos, starring Matteo Lippi in the title role opposite Marita Sølberg as Elisabeth with Brindley Sherratt and Anthony Ciaramitaro doing double duty as Philip II in a revival of Davide Livermore’s production, which updates the action to Franco’s Spain (March 19–April 18). Gardner also conducts two programs with the company’s Opera Orchestra, leading Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and Saint-Säens’s First Cello Concerto, featuring Gautier Capuçon (Feb 23), before concluding the season with The Ring without Words, Lorin Maazel’s evening-length synthesis of orchestral music from Wagner’s Ring cycle (June 19). This anticipates the complete, fully staged Ring cycle that Gardner looks forward to conducting at the Oslo house over seasons to come. Of the company’s recent season-opening production, The Times reports:

“Gardner radiates energy before a blazing ensemble. … [His] fierce conducting and the magnificent playing is the best thing about the current performances of Dvořák’s Rusalka – a glorious score delivered with polish and passion, though there are fine voices too.”

A major figure in the opera world, Gardner conducted the acclaimed world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Festen this past spring at London’s Royal Opera House, where he previously made his company debut with a new staging of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová. As well as serving for eight seasons as Music Director of London’s English National Opera, he has led five productions at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and conducted at La Scala, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opéra National de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Returns to Bergen Philharmonic & other European orchestras

Gardner serves as Honorary Conductor of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he concluded a nine-year tenure as Chief Conductor last year. Following their success at the 2025 Gramophone Awards, where the ensemble was named Orchestra of the Year, he leads two programs in Bergen next year. They join mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, the Bergen Philharmonic Chorus, and the Edvard Grieg Choirs for Mahler’s monumental Third Symphony (Jan 29 & 30), before collaborating with celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on the Bergen premiere of new piano concerto by Edvard Prize winner Ørjan Matre (April 16 & 17). To complete his remaining European season, Gardner returns to Utrecht’s Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra for Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ (Dec 19) and to Copenhagen’s Danish National Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony (Jan 8 & 9).

New & recent recordings

Gardner is a prolific recording artist with an extensive and unusually wide-ranging discography. On November 21, he expands this catalogue with the release of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, recorded with the London Philharmonic for its in-house label, LPO live. This represents the conductor’s third new title of the season, following two September releases: Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the LPO and a coupling of Nielsen’s “Helios” Symphony and Clarinet Concerto, recorded with the Bergen Philharmonic for Chandos. Other recent releases include Tania León’s Raíces (Origins) with the LPO, a 2026 Grammy Award nominee for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and two critically acclaimed live opera recordings: Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, a Decca release capturing Lise Davidsen and Gerald Finley at the Norwegian National Opera, and Richard Strauss’s Salome, a Chandos title featuring Malin Byström and the Bergen Philharmonic at the Edinburgh Festival. Both recordings have just been nominated for 2026 International Classical Music Awards, following Der Fliegende Holländer’s success at the 2025 Gramophone Awards, where it was named Gramophone’s Best Opera. In addition to his other two Gramophone Awards, Gardner’s previous recording honors include a Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance for his account of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the Bergen Philharmonic.

Edward Gardner: upcoming engagements

Nov 20–23
Washington, D.C.
National Symphony Orchestra
BRITTEN: Sinfonia da Requiem
LUTOSŁAWSKI: Cello Concerto (with Pablo Ferrández, cello)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5

Nov 26
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
ELGAR: In the South (Alassio)
ELGAR: Sea Pictures (with Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano)
ELGAR: Sospiri
ELGAR: Enigma Variations

Nov 29
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Robert LAIDLOW: Exoplanets (world premiere of LPO commission)
BLOCH: Schelomo (with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3

Dec 3–7: German tour with London Philharmonic Orchestra
   Dec 3: Munich (Isarphilharmonie)
   Dec 4: Essen (Philharmonie)
   Dec 5: Cologne (Philharmonie)
   Dec 7: Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie)
ELGAR: In the South (Alassio)
SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No. 1 (with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3

Dec 19
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tivoli Vredenburg
AVROTROS
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
BERLIOZ: L’enfance du Christ (with Maria Warenberg, mezzo-soprano; Robert Murray, tenor; Florian Sempey, baritone; Thomas Oliemans, baritone; Patrick Bolleire, bass; Lucas van Lierop, tenor; Jasurbek Khaydarov, bass; Groot Omroepkoor; Nationaal Kinderkoor)

Jan 8 & 9
Copenhagen, Denmark
DR Koncerthuset
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Helen GRIME: Midnight
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, violin)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3

Jan 15–17
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Overture from The Wasps
BRUCH: Violin Concerto (with Randall Goosby, violin)
HOLST: The Planets

Jan 22–24
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
WALTON: Coronation Te Deum
JAMES MACMILLAN: Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock (U.S. premiere)
HOLST: The Planets

Jan 29 & 30
Bergen, Norway
Grieg Hall
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 3 (with Beth Taylor, mezzo-soprano; Bergen Philharmonic Chorus; Edvard Grieg Choirs)

Feb 4
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BACEWICZ: Overture
MARTINŮ: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Josef Špaček, violin)
LUTOSŁAWSKI: Symphony No. 4
JANÁČEK: Taras Bulba

Feb 7 (6pm)
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
Members of the LPO
With Foyle Future First musicians & students from the Royal Academy of Music
LIGETI: Melodien
BARTÓK (orch. FREISITZER): Dance Suite

Feb 7 (7:30pm)
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
KAPRÁLOVÁ: Rustic Suite
SZYMANOWSKI: Stabat Mater (with Galina Cheplakova, soprano; Agnieszka Rehlis, mezzo-soprano; Kostas Smoriginas, bass; London Philharmonic Choir)
KAPRÁLOVÁ: Waving Farewell
BARTÓK: The Wooden Prince

Feb 8
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
ELGAR: Sospiri
ELGAR: Cello Concerto (with Jan Vogler, cello)
ELGAR: Enigma Variations

Feb 23
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Opera House
Norwegian Opera and Ballet
Opera Orchestra
DUKAS: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No. 1 (with Gautier Capuçon, cello)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4

March 19, 21, 25, & 28; April 7, 9, 12, 14 & 18
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Opera House
Norwegian Opera and Ballet
VERDI: Don Carlos

April 1
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Mark-Anthony TURNAGE: Three Screaming Popes
BARTÓK: Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Alina Ibragimova, violin)
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition

April 16 & 17
Bergen, Norway
Grieg Hall
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Ketil HVOSLEF: The Godfather
Ørjan MATRE: Piano Concerto (Bergen premiere; with Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
PROKOFIEV: Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet

April 25
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BERG: Wozzeck (semi-staged; with Stéphane Degout as Wozzeck, Annette Dasch as Marie, Peter Hoare as Captain, Brindley Sherratt as Doctor, Christopher Ventris as Drum Major, Eirik Grøtvedt as Andres, Adrian Thompson as The Fool, Kitty Whately as Margret, & London Voices)

May 7–9
Chicago, IL
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
BARBER: First Essay for Orchestra
LIEBERSON: Neruda Songs (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)
WALTON: Symphony No. 1

May 15 & 17
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (debut)
KNUSSEN: Flourish with Fireworks
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Behzod Abduraimov, piano)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”

June 19
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Opera House
Norwegian Opera and Ballet
Opera Orchestra
WAGNER (arr. Lorin MAAZEL): The Ring Without Words