David Robertson

David Robertson – conductor, artist, composer, thinker, American musical visionary – occupies the most prominent podiums in orchestral and new music, and opera. He is a champion of contemporary composers, and an ingenious programmer. Robertson has served in numerous leadership positions, including Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a transformative 13-year tenure as St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director, with Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and, as protégé of Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain. He appears with the world’s great orchestras such as those of New York, Philadelphia, LA; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; and major ensembles and festivals on five continents. Since his 1996 Metropolitan Opera debut, Robertson has conducted a breathtaking range of Met projects, including the 2019 production premiere of Porgy and Bess, winning the Grammy Award, Best Opera Recording. In 2022, he conducted its Met revival, and made his Rome Opera debut. Robertson is The Juilliard School’s Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Faculty, and serves on the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council. In the 2024-25 season, he celebrates the Boulez Centennial with the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra; conducts the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Seoul, Leipzig, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and more. He leads European tours of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Australian Youth Orchestra, and continues his term as the inaugural Utah Symphony and Opera’s Creative Partner. Robertson is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France.