Live Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony Fri 6 – Sat 7 February

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is the Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, following six seasons as Principal Guest Conductor, as well as the Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Between 2012 and 2018, he served as Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), after stepping down as Principal Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

He has appeared with many notable orchestras in leading European centres, such as Berlin (including Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin), Munich (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk), Zurich (Tonhalle Orchester Zurich), Leipzig (Gewandhausorchester), Paris (Orchestre National de France), London (London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic) and is a familiar figure in Scandinavia, with such orchestras as Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic. North American appearances to date have included the symphony orchestras of New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, St Louis, Toronto, Atlanta, Montreal, Vancouver, Houston and Seattle. He has also made highly successful tours to China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Highlights with the RSNO this season include Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 2, a collaboration with Dunedin Consort, and closing the season with a celebration of the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. With the Minnesota Orchestra in 2024/25, Thomas leads a diverse range of programmes, including a Nordic Composers Festival, concert performances of Puccini’s Turandot, and projects with leading soloists such as Yunchan Lim, Isabelle Faust, Julia Bullock and Bruce Liu. Other highlights for Thomas this season include his debut with Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin (Elektra), Den Norske Opera (Peer Gynt), and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Thomas will also lead a project with the Aarhus Symfoniorkester celebrating the 750th anniversary of the city of Holstebro – his home city.

As part of the 2015 anniversary celebrations of both Sibelius and Nielsen, he conducted a wide variety of their works with many leading orchestras. A passionate supporter of the music of Carl Nielsen, his performances with the Swedish Radio Symphony of his Symphony No. 5 was praised as “equal of the great pioneers of Nielsen interpretation… It’s hard to imagine a finer performance of this remarkable symphony.” (Dagens Nyheter); and in 2019 participated in a special concert to celebrate Nielsen’s works with the Royal Danish Academy of Music Copenhagen.

Following his acclaimed debut for Royal Danish Opera (Kafka’s Trial), he has since returned regularly to conduct a broad repertoire, including Die Walküre, which won the 2022 Reumert Award for Best Opera Production, Elektra, Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Cunning Little Vixen, Il viaggio a Reims; and has also made short concert tours with the Royal Danish Orchestra. He has also enjoyed successful collaborations with Norwegian Opera and Royal Swedish Opera. His Stockholm productions of Tosca and Turandot (both with Nina Stemme) led to his Bayerische Staatsoper debut, conducting main season and Opera Festival performances of Turandot with her and he most recently returned to for the Opera’s Akademiekonzert series. He made his Deutsche Oper Berlin debut with the World premiere of Scartazzini’s Edward II and has since returned for Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet.

His discography covers a broad range of contemporary and mainstream repertoire, including Carl Nielsen (The Royal Danish Orchestra, Naxos Records), Poul Ruders (Arhus Symphony, Norwegian Radio, Royal Danish Opera (Kafka’s Trial) for Da Capo and Bridge Records); Sibelius symphonies and tone poems with BBC NOW and Prokofiev and Richard Strauss with RSNO for Linn Records; Lutoslawski and Dutilleux concertos with ‘cellist Johannes Moser and Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Pentatone); and Vilde Frang’s celebrated debut recording (WDR Koln for EMI).

In October 2023, Thomas was a recipient of the Carl Nielsen and Anne-Marie Carl Nielsen’s Foundation award for his outstanding contribution to Danish musical life. In January 2022, Thomas was decorated with a prestigious Royal Order of Chivalry – the Order of Dannebrog (Ridder af Dannebrogordenen) by Her Majesty Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark.

Noah Bendix-Balgley enjoys a wide-ranging musical life as a violinist. He is First Concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker and tours both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. His clear and heartfelt personal sound has moved listeners around the world.

Noah appears frequently as soloist with leading international orchestras, as well as in recital at the world’s finest concert halls. Recent highlights include his concerto debut at Carnegie Hall as the featured soloist on the Berliner Philharmoniker USA tour under the direction of Kirill Petrenko, a Japanese tour with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and concerto appearances with the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, Dresden, Auckland, and Nagoya. He has also performed with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Shanghai, Utah, Quebec, Royal Danish, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors including Kirill Petrenko, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Gustavo Gimeno, Leonard Slatkin, Long Yu, Nikolaj Szeps- Znaider, Marie Jacquot, Fabien Gabel, and JoAnn Falletta. He has toured with Apollo’s Fire Orchestra performing on period instruments, and with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Noah recently curated and presented a week-long celebration of the violin as part of his Artist Residency with his hometown Asheville Symphony, including a solo violin recital and an all-concerto program. Upcoming 24/25 highlights include debuts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra de Valencia, and the Orchestre National de Lyon. Noah’s album Mozart/Sinigaglia with Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic was released in June 2024 to critical acclaim.

Noah is a renowned performer of traditional klezmer music, a musical style that has been part of his life since an early age. He has performed with groups such as Brave Old World, and has taught at many klezmer workshops. In 2016, Noah composed and premiered his own klezmer violin concerto, Fidl-Fantazye, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he was concertmaster from 2011 to 2015. Since the premiere, he has also performed the work with the Baltimore Symphony, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and the Kammerakademie Potsdam. He presented the chamber orchestra version of the work with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker in a special ‘Late Night ’klezmer concert at the Philharmonie Berlin.

A passionate chamber musician, Noah performs in several fixed ensembles: in a trio with pianist Robert Levin and cellist Peter Wiley, with the Rosamunde String Quartet that includes members of the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony, and with the multi-genre septet Philharmonix, which features members of both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. Philharmonix tours worldwide, has an ongoing multi-year residency at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and has released three albums on Deutsche Grammophon. Noah’s festival highlights include the Seattle Music Festival, Bergen International Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, Zermatt Music Festival, Aix-en-Provence, and La Jolla Summerfest.

Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Noah began playing the violin at age 4. At age 9, he played for Lord Yehudi Menuhin. He graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Munich Hochschule. His principal mentors were Mauricio Fuks, Christoph Poppen and Ana Chumachenco. A laureate of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition, he also won top prizes at the Long-Thibaud Competition in France and the Postacchini Competition in Italy.

Now a gifted educator himself, Noah teaches at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. He is on the faculty of the Morningside Music Bridge program, where he also a member of the Advisory Council. He has served on the juries of the Menuhin Competition, the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and as chair of the violin jury at the the Carl Nielsen Competition.

See Noah Bendix-Balgley perform Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the RSNO on 5, 6 & 7 February 2026.

Bruno Delepelaire owes the fact that he became a cellist to his grandmother, an enthusiastic amateur cellist. As a five-year-old, he also wanted to learn the instrument. The cello lessons with his first cello teacher Erwan Fauré were formative experiences for him. Bruno Delepelaire later studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Philippe Muller. In 2012 he went to Berlin to continue his training under Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts and under Ludwig Quandt at the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, before getting the position of first solo cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2013.

Bruno Delepelaire gained orchestral experience with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and as a student of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a soloist, he has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Bielefeld Philharmoniker, the Saarbrücken Rundfunkorchester, the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, the Berliner Barocksolisten, the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de l’opéra de Nice, the Aalborg Symfoniorkester, under conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Reinhard Goebel, Alexander Kalajdzic, Matthias Pintscher, Michael Sanderling, Thomas Sondergard. The cellist has won several awards, including the first prize at the “Karl Davidoff International Cello Competition” (2012) and the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition (2013).

Bruno Delepelaire plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller, on loan from the Karolina Blaberg Foundation.

See Bruno Delepelaire perform Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the RSNO on 5, 6 & 7 February 2026.