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Mark Wigglesworth

Conductor
Chief Conductor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (from 2024/25)
Chief Conductor, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (from January 2025)

  • Mark Wigglesworth is recognised internationally for his masterly interpretations both in the opera house and in the concert hall, highly detailed performances that combine a finely considered architectural structure with great sophistication and rare beauty. As a highly respected conductor he has forged many enduring relationships with orchestras and opera companies across the world, conducting repertoire ranging from Mozart to Boulez.

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  • Highlights have included performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony. Recordings include a critically acclaimed cycle of the Shostakovich Symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Mahler’s Sixth and Tenth Symphonies with the Melbourne Symphony, a disc of English music with the Sydney Symphony, Britten’s Peter Grimes with Glyndebourne, and the Brahms Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough.


    In opera, Wigglesworth has enjoyed long relationships with The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Die Meistersinger von  Nürnberg, Rise and Fall of Mahagonny, From the House of the Dead, La Clemenza di Tito, Hansel and Gretel) and English National Opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Cosi fan Tutti, Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Parsifal, Force of Destiny, Magic Flute, Jenufa, Don Giovanni, Lulu) and operatic engagements elsewhere include The Metropolitan Opera, New York (The Marriage of Figaro, Orfeo) as well as at The Bavarian State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, and the Teatro Real, Madrid. In 2017 he received the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.


    He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, and made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For. His book The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters is published by Faber & Faber and has been translated into Spanish and Chinese. He has held positions as Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony and the Adelaide Symphony, Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and English National Opera and in September 2024 becomes Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

    2023/24 season / 341 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Orchestral highlights

Minnesota Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
National Symphony Orchestra Washington
New World Symphony Orchestra
Camerata Salzburg
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Royal Flemish Philharmonic
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Opera highlights

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (From the House of the Dead; Die Meistersinger von NürnbergRise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny)


Metropolitan Opera (Le nozze di Figaro; Orfeo ed Euridice)

Semperoper Dresden (Il forza del Destino)


Glyndebourne Festival (Peter Grimes; La bohème; Le nozze di Figaro)


Bavarian State Opera (Così fan tutte; Mitridate re di Ponto)


Teatro Real, Madrid (Dead Man Walking)


Netherlands Opera (Peter Grimes)


English National Opera (Jenůfa; Lulu; Die Zauberflöte; Macbeth of Mtsensk; La forza del destino; Katya Kabanova; Parsifal)


Welsh National Opera (Elektra; The Rake’s Progress; Tristan und Isolde; Così fan tutte)

Livestreams & Broadcasts

English National Opera | November 2020
Mozart: Requiem
Click to watch on BBC Iplayer
Available until October 2021

It is Wigglesworth’s conducting of the orchestra, the chorus and his wonderful cast that transports the performance into the realms of greatness…He is already the heir to Charles Mackerras in this astounding music.

The Sunday Times

[Wigglesworth] offers a deeply humane performance. This is Janáček done slowly and lyrically, with the emphasis placed on the score’s dark poetry and depth of musical and psychological detail. The opera’s passion and compassion burn fiercely yet lingeringly: this is an interpretation that seeps under your skin rather than hits you in the solar plexus and is unquestionably all the more powerful for it.

The Guardian

It was the most authoritative conducting, instantly masterly, I’ve witnessed so far at these Proms, Bernard Haitink’s appearance apart. And Wigglesworth seems close to Haitink’s level... Wigglesworth’s intensity was unanswerable.

The Sunday Times

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Intermusica represents Mark Wigglesworth worldwide

Stephen Lumsden
Chief Executive
+44 20 7608 9900

Daniel Cummings
Associate Artist Manager
+44 20 7608 9943
dcummings@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam

Contralto

Avery Amereau