Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 28, 2026

Daniel Harding

Daniel John Harding is a British conductor. He is music director of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and has been named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning with the 2027–2028 season. He is also a part-time pilot for Air France.

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Daniel John Harding CBE (born 31 August 1975) is a British conductor. He is music director of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and has been named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning with the 2027–2028 season. He is also a part-time pilot for Air France.

Early life

Harding was born in Oxford. He studied trumpet at Chetham's School of Music and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra at age 13.1 At age 17, Harding assembled a group of musicians to perform Pierrot Lunaire of Arnold Schoenberg, and sent a tape of the performance to Simon Rattle in Birmingham. After listening to this tape, Rattle hired Harding as his assistant at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for a year, from 1993 to 1994.2

Career

In 1994, Harding entered the University of Cambridge, but after his first year, Claudio Abbado named him his assistant with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.2 Harding first conducted the Berlin Philharmonic at age 21. At the time of his first conducting appearance at The Proms in 1996, he was then the youngest conductor ever to appear there.3 Harding has stated that he has never had formal conducting lessons.4 He is a former Seiji Ozawa Fellow in conducting at Tanglewood Music Center.5

In 1997, Harding made his US conducting debut as music director of the Ojai Music Festival alongside pianist Emanuel Ax, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic.6 Less than a year later, he made his regular season debut with the LA Philharmonic at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in February 1998.7

Harding has been music director of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra (1997–2000), the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (1999–2003) and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (2003–2008). He holds the title of conductor laureate with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He conducted Idomeneo for the 2005 opening night at La Scala, substituting for Riccardo Muti following his resignation.8

In 2004, Harding was appointed principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), effective 2006. He took on the management of the Sound Adventures program for new compositions.9 With the LSO, he has conducted a recording of the opera Billy Budd for EMI Classics.10 He became the Principal Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2007. In September 2009, his contract as the orchestra's principal conductor was extended through 2012.11 In April 2013, the orchestra extended Harding's contract to 2015.12 With the LSO he has recorded for the Sony Classical label.13 In June 2015, the Orchestre de Paris announced Harding's appointment as its 9th principal conductor, effective September 2016.14 Harding concluded his tenure at the Orchestre de Paris with the close of the 2018–2019 season.15 In October 2018, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra announced the extension of Harding's contract as principal conductor through 2023, granting him the new title of konstnärlig ledare (artistic leader).16 In November 2021, the orchestra announced the extension of Harding's contract through 2025.17 Harding concluded his tenure with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the close of the 2024–2025 season.18

In September 2010, Harding took the title of music partner of the New Japan Philharmonic.19 In April 2012, Harding became artistic director of the Ohga Hall in Karuizawa, Japan.20

In 2021, Harding conducted the annual Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert for the first time, the first British conductor to lead that concert. In March 2023, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia announced Harding's appointment as its next music director, effective with the 2024–2025 season, with an initial contract of five seasons.18

In May 2026, the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that Harding will become the orchestra's music director beginning with the 2027–2028 season.2122

Personal life

Harding has two children, Adele and George, from his past marriage to Béatrice Muthelet, a violist and co-principal violist of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The marriage ended in divorce.4 Harding is a particular fan of the football club Manchester United.

Harding is a licensed airline pilot. He planned to take a sabbatical from conducting in 2020 to work full-time as a commercial pilot with Air France, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to put that plan on hold.23 Since 2022, he has piloted Airbus planes on medium-haul flights for about one week per month.21

Harding is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.24 He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to music.25

References

References

  1. Robert Hanks (10 December 2005). "Daniel Harding: Lightning conductor". The Independent. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
  2. Michael Henderson (30 July 2006). "Daniel Harding: Conducting his life with brio". The Observer. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  3. Stephen Moss (19 October 2004). "Prodigy on the podium". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  4. Michael White (27 February 2011). "Prodigy Ages into a Merely Young Conductor". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  5. "Turnage premiere spotlights program of hope with Harding, Boston Symphony". The Classical Review. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. Mark Swed (10 June 1997). "Weather Lifts, So Does the Music at Ojai Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  7. Daniel Cariaga (27 February 1998). "Harding Masters Unorthodox Program". Los Angeles Times.
  8. Barbara McMahon (8 December 2005). "Milan's opera world divided as British conductor takes on La Scala". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  9. Edward Seckerson (22 March 2007). "Daniel Harding: LSO's boy wonder". The Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2007.
  10. Andrew Clements (19 September 2008). "Classical review: Britten: Billy Budd, Gunn/Bostridge/Saks/LSO & Chorus/Harding". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  11. Bo Löfvendahl (17 September 2009). "SR förlänger med dirigent". Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  12. "Harding kvar hos Radiosymfonikerna". Svenska Dagbladet. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  13. Tim Ashley (11 November 2010). "Strauss: Oboe Concerto; Serenade in E Flat; Suite in B Flat – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  14. "Daniel Harding nouveau directeur musical de l'Orchestre de Paris et Thomas Hengelbrock chef associé à partir de la saison 2016–2017" (PDF) (Press release). Orchestre de Paris. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  15. "Daniel Harding quitte l'Orchestre de Paris". France Musique. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  16. "Daniel Harding förlänger till 2023 – tar Radiosymfonikerna på omfattande turné" (Press release). Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Berwaldhallen. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  17. "Ett brev från Daniel Harding – förlänger med Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester till 2025" (Press release). Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Berwaldhallen. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  18. "Daniel Harding appointed Music Director of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia" (Press release). Askonas Holt. 6 March 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  19. "Daniel Harding Music Partner of NJP" (Press release). New Japan Philharmonic. 1 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  20. "Daniel Harding Selected as Karuizawa Ohga Hall's First Artistic Director" (Press release). Ohga Hall, Karuizawa. 15 February 2012. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  21. "Daniel Harding: British conductor named LA Philharmonic's music director – and keeps part-time pilot job". BBC News. 26 May 2026. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  22. Nagourney, Adam (26 May 2026). "For Dudamel's Successor, L.A. Philharmonic Turns to Europe". New York Times. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  23. Fairman, Richard (16 June 2020). "Conductor-pilot Daniel Harding on going from podium to cockpit". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  24. "Ledamöter". Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  25. "No. 63218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N8.
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