Dresden Philharmonic Names New Chief Conductor

Sir Donald Runnicles will become Chief Conductor Designate for the 2024/25 season and then step into the post fully in 2025/26

Sir Donald Runnicles has been named as the new Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. Runnicles will step into the role in 2024, holding the title of Chief Conductor Designate for the 2024/25 season and then assuming the post proper in 2025/26.

Presently General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival (USA) since 2006, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Runnicles was recently named Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra — having served as its Chief Conductor between 2009 and 2016.

Runnicles is also closely associated with the San Francisco Opera, where he was asked to be Music Director after completing two successful Ring cycles. He held this post from 1992 to 2009.

He holds honorary doctorates in music from the University of Edinburgh, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 2004 he was awarded the OBE by Queen Elizabeth II.

"I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Sir Donald Runnicles, an internationally renowned and highly experienced chief conductor, for the Dresden Philharmonic," said Annekatrin Klepsch, the Mayor of Dresden. "He is just as much in demand at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as he is at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and many other major opera houses such as those in Vienna, Paris, Milan and London. He stands for the highest level of artistic ability and has a firm foothold in the international music scene."