He is Chief Conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra until Summer 2026, leading them this season on a five-concert tour to Korea, at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and at their home in Brussels BOZAR. A significant figure in Dutch musical life, he regularly conducts all the major orchestras in Holland including Royal Concertgebouw, Residentie Orkest (returning to both this season), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic. He was Principal Guest of the North Netherlands Orchestra from 2015-2024 and is now Honorary Conductor for Life, leading them in Mahler’s 8th symphony this season as part of an ongoing Mahler cycle.
Guesting elsewhere this season includes returns to the Danish National, Royal Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia, and his first visits to the Barcelona Symphony and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. He has appeared with orchestras across the globe (many of them regularly), notably the BBC Scottish Symphony, Philharmonia, Helsinki Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Bamberg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica da Galicia, Tenerife Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Oregon and Vancouver symphonies, Seoul Philharmonic.
This season he makes his operatic debut at Finnish National Opera with a new production of Hänsel und Gretel. Principal Guest of Opera North since 2019, his semi-staged Simon Boccanegra last season received 5-star reviews on tour and at the Southbank Centre last season. Hermus has conducted extensively throughout his career in opera houses across Europe, notably in Stuttgart, Essen, Komische Oper Berlin, Gothenburg, Strasbourg, Opéra de Paris studio, Opera de Rouen and the Nederlandse Reisopera. He was Music Director in Dessau from 2009, ending his tenure in summer 2015 with his first Ring cycle and promotion to Honorary Conductor for Life.
This year sees the release of a new CD with violinist Ning Feng, in which Hermus leads the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in concertos by Brahms and Goldmark. His existing discography on CPO focuses on neglected Romantic composers such as Hausegger, Klughardt and his compatriots Diepenbrock and Wagenaar, as well as Auber’s opera La Muette de Portici.
For Hermus, music is an essential part of life and society. Always pushing the boundaries of traditional concert programming, Antony has been involved in numerous out-of-the-box-projects, such as Ligeti at the “Lowlands” rock festival and Symphonic Cinema (Mahler/Stravinsky). He was initiator of the award-winning „Scratch“ concerts and of the first performances in Germany of “Tweetfonie” (52 world premieres on one day) during his Residency at the International Kurt Weill Festival.
Hermus started playing the piano at the age of six. He studied piano with Jacques de Tiège at the Brabant Music Conservatory and conducting with Jac van Steen and Georg Fritzsch. He is passionately committed to nurturing the next generation of young musicians; he is Visiting Professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and at the “National Master of Orchestral Conducting” programme, and teaches regularly at Sibelius Academy and Royal Northern College of Music where he was made a Fellow in 2025 in acknowledgement of his contribution to musical life in the North of England. He is also Artistic Advisor of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands.
25/26 season – 558 words. Not to be altered without permission.