Conductor Sir Mark ElderSir Mark Elder was Music Director of the Hallé from 2000 to 2024 andnow holds the position of Conductor Emeritus. He was previously Music Director of English National Opera (1979–1993) and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2023 he took up the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has enjoyed long relationships with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras as well as working with leading symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has appeared annually at the Proms for many years, including – in 1987 and 2006 – the internationally televised Last Night.
He has enjoyed a long association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and has appeared in many other prominent theatres including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich Opera, Dutch National Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He was the first English conductor to conduct a new production at the Bayreuth Festival.
From 2011 to 2019 he was Artistic Director of Opera Rara, with whom he has made many award-winning recordings, including Rossini’s Ermione (2011 Gramophone Award), Offenbach’s Fantasio (2015 International Opera Award), Donizetti’s Les Martyrs (2016 International Opera Award), Rossini’s Semiramide (2019 Classical Music Award and International Opera Award) and Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida (2019 OPER! Award). With the Hallé, he has recorded a wide repertoire, including a complete Ring cycle, Parsifal and the three great Elgar oratorios.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2017, knighted in 2008 and awarded the CBE in 1989. In May 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society and he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011. He holds the Barbirolli Chair at the Royal Academy of Music.
Realeases featuring Sir Mark Elder
