Jonathan Darlington - Conductor
Until 2011, Jonathan Darlington was music director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and has held the same position with the Vancouver Opera since 2002. His passionate yet refined approach to music making has done much to increase the popularity and quality of both orchestras.

A graduate of Durham University and the Royal Academy of Music, he began his career as freelance pianist, accompanist and répétiteur in France. His work was influenced early on by such outstanding musical personalities of our time as Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti and Olivier Messiaen. He made his conducting debut in 1984 at the Parisian Théâtre des Champs Elysées with Francesco Cavalli’s baroque opera Ormindo, and in 1991, as deputy to the Music Director Myung-Whun Chung at the Paris Opéra with Le nozze di Figaro.

A charismatic enthusiasm and an acute sensitivity with regard to orchestral colour and balance are the hallmark of Jonathan Darlington’s work. His vast symphonic and operatic repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary, with an emphasis on lesser known (contemporary) works outside the European mainstream. Numerous world and national premieres of works such as Trojahn’s La Grande Magia or Kagel’s Broken Chords attest to his commitment to contemporary music. Renowned for his broad repertoire, he gives regular guest appearances with major orchestras and opera houses the world over.

Jonathan Darlington is both a “Laureate” (LRAM) and “Fellow” (FRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music, London, and is proud to hold the distinction of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Looking back on more than 125 years of history, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra ranks among those German orchestras richest in tradition. After its founding in 1877, it soon developed into a nationally respected orchestra attracting renowned conductors. Max Reger and Hans Pfitzner were the first prominent guests on the podium of the young orchestra, which was later also moulded by artistic personalities such as Paul Hindemith, Carl Schuricht, and Bruno Walter. The German premiere of Bruckner’s 9th symphony features among the early highlights in the orchestra’s history, as does the performance of Richard Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung under the baton of the composer himself.

In the 1930’s the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra found a music director of high international renown in Eugen Jochum, succeeded by his brother Georg Ludwig Jochum, who oversaw the difficult task of reconstructing the orchestra after the war and remained music director until 1970. A long period of artistic continuity is associated with the names of Miltiades Caridis, Lawrence Foster, Alexander Lazarew, and Bruno Weil. From 2002 to 2011, British conductor Jonathan Darlington honed the skills of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra as its music director, strongly influencing the character of the orchestra. The impressive list of past guest conductors features names such as Alberto Erede, Carlos Kleiber, and Horst Stein, as well as Christian Thielemann, Ton Koopmann, and Fabio Luisi. Over the years, the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has attracted on a regular basis such renowned soloists as the pianists Ferruccio Busoni, Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau, and Wilhelm Kempf, and the violinists Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, and Arthur Grumiaux. Today sought-after artists such as Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Anna Gourari, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, and Claudio Bohorquez are welcome guests of the orchestra.

The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has traditionally been committed to performing and commissioning new works. Important contemporary composers who have written works for the orchestra include Wolfgang Rihm, Mauricio Kagel, Krzysztof Meyer, Jörg Baur, and Manfred Trojahn. Jonathan Darlington continued to build on this tradition by initiating impor- tant premieres, such as the world premiere of Mauricio Kagel’s orchestral work Broken Chords and the German premiere of Tan Dun’s sympho-ny Heaven-Earth-Mankind. Concert tours have taken the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra to the former Soviet Union, Spain, Finland, Great Britain, Greece, China, Poland, Lithuania and Turkey.

The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra has honoured with the „Best Concert Programming“ Award from DMV (German Music Publishers‘ Association) for its 2009/2010 season.