Stéphane Denève

Biography

Stéphane Denève is Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He recently concluded terms as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director of the Brussels Philharmonic, and previously served as Chief Conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. 

Recognised internationally for the exceptional quality of his performances and programming, Stéphane Denève regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s greatest orchestras and soloists. He has a special affinity for the music of his native France, and is a passionate advocate for music of the 21st century. 

Stéphane Denève’s recent and upcoming engagements include appearances in Europe with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (with whom he was invited to conduct the 2020 Nobel Prize concert), Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Czech Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, DSO Berlin, WDR Cologne, and Rotterdam Philharmonic; and in Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. 

In North America, Stéphane Denève made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra - with whom he has appeared several times both in Boston and at Tanglewood - and he regularly conducts the continent’s leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Toronto Symphony. In 2022, Denève was given the honour of conducting for John Williams’ official 90th Birthday Gala with NSO Washington at the Kennedy Center; he is also a popular guest at many of the US summer music festivals, including the Hollywood Bowl, Bravo!Vail, Blossom Music Festival, Festival Napa Valley, Grand Teton Music Festival, Sun Valley Music Festival, and Music Academy of the West. 

Stéphane Denève frequently performs with many of the world’s leading solo artists, including Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Yefim Bronfman, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Sasha Cooke, James Ehnes, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Olivier Latry, Isabel Leonard, Paul Lewis, Nikolai Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Kelley O’Connor, Víkingur Ólafsson, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Gil Shaham, Akiko Suwanai, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Davóne Tines, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. He also treasures 

the memory of Nicholas Angelich and Lars Vogt, two exceptional artists with whom he enjoyed a close musical friendship over many years. 

In the field of opera, Stéphane Denève has led productions at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera (including a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for the Holland Festival), Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Monnaie, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. 

As a recording artist, Denève has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck and Connesson. He is a triple winner of the Diapason d’Or of the Year, has been shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year Award, and has won the prize for symphonic music at the International Classical Music Awards. His most recent releases include a live recording of Honegger’s Jeanne d’arc au bûcher with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and two discs of the works of Guillaume Connesson with the Brussels Philharmonic (the first of which was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année, Caecilia Award, and Classica Magazine’s CHOC of the Year). A box-set of his complete Ravel recordings with Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was released in 2022 by Hänssler Classic. 

A graduate and prize-winner of the Paris Conservatoire, Stéphane Denève worked closely in his early career with Sir Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre and Seiji Ozawa. A gifted communicator and educator, Denève is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners. In addition to his position with the New World Symphony and his long-standing relationship with the Colburn School in Los Angeles, Denève has worked regularly with young people in programmes such as those of the Tanglewood Music Center, European Union Youth Orchestra, and Music Academy of the West.