Duncan Ward
Conductor
© Simon van Boxtel
British conductor Duncan Ward is back in Frankfurt, where he recently conducted his first Museumskonzert with the Frankfurt Opern and Museumsorchester, for his first opera with the company, this new production of Fortner's Blood Wedding. Having established a reputation as one of the most versatile conductors of his generation he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Philzuid symphony orchestra in 2021. He works regularly with leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen. He made his debut at the Met in New York with Die Zauberflöte in 2022 and recent operas led by him include A Midsummer Night's Dream at Zurich Opera, The Turn of the Screw at English National Opera, Così fan tutte at the Opéra National de Lyon, Death in Venice at Stuttgart State Opera and Peter Grimes at Cologne Opera. Future plans include works for Glyndebourne on Tour, the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg, Oper Zuid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. During the 2025/26 season, in addition to his concerts in the Netherlands, he makes his debuts with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, NDR Radio Philharmonic, the Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra in Tokyo and the Slovenian Philharmonic and gives concerts with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the Musikkollegium in Winterthur. His repertoire is wide and varied and he's equally at home with early music ensembles, including Les Siècles and the Balthasar Neumann Chorus and Ensemble, and contemporary music specialists, including the Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain. He's also known for his appearances with Abel Selaocoe at the London Jazz Festival and performances of Stockhausen's Gruppen with the London Symphony Orchestra in Tate Modern and at the Lucerne Festival. Duncan Ward is passionately involved in several foundations, including the WAM Foundation, which he co-founded and which enables young British musicians to teach music at schools throughout India. While working in India he was lucky enough to study classical Indian music with Ravi Shankar.