Sir Simon Rattle

Compelling charisma, a love of experimentation, commitment to contemporary music, great social and educational engagement as well as unreserved artistic seriousness - all of this makes the Liverpool-born conductor one of the most fascinating personalities of our time. Sir Simon Rattle will be the new Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra from the start of the 2023/2024 season. Simon Rattle earned his international reputation during his time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998), which he led to world fame. He was Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 2002 to 2018 and Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2023. As Conductor Emeritus, the 68-year-old Briton with a German passport will remain associated with the LSO. He also works closely with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, of which he is Principal Artist.

Simon Rattle regularly tours extensively throughout Europe and Asia and has long-standing relationships with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Staatskapelle, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Czech Philharmonic. He is a sought-after guest at major opera houses, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Berlin and Vienna State Operas, the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he recently appeared with the LSO in a new production of Berg's Wozzeck. During his time as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle was a regular guest at the Salzburg Easter Festival, in Baden-Baden and also in Aix-en-Provence. The conductor has received the highest honours for his more than 70 recordings to date. His commitment to the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Zukunft@BPhil education programme, for which he has also received several awards, also deserves special mention.

In London, he founded the LSO East London Academy in 2019, a collaboration between the LSO and ten boroughs in the east of the city to promote exceptional musical talent regardless of their social background. Together with the BRSO, Richard Wagner’s “Das Rheingold”, “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried”, Mahler’s “Lied von der Erde” and Ninth Symphony as well as the musica viva portrait CD with works by Ondřej Adámek have been released on CD to date. The Ninth Symphony was honoured with a Diapason d’or, a Supersonic Pizzicato and Gramophone Editor’s Choice.