Pittsburgh Cultural TrustGo to the home page

Edward Gardner is Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of The Norwegian Opera and Ballet. He additionally serves as Honorary Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, following his tenure as Chief Conductor from 2015 to 2024.

Edward opens his inaugural season as Music Director of The Norwegian Opera and Ballet with concert performances of Wagner The Flying Dutchman and Mahler Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'. He will then conduct two fully staged operas; Verdi La Traviata and Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen, following earlier productions of Bartok Bluebeard’s Castle, Zemlinsky A Florentine Tragedy and Verdi Un ballo in Maschera.

During his fourth season with the LPO, Edward will conduct nine concerts at the Royal Festival Hall as well as a US tour culminating at Carnegie Hall, and in major European cities including Vienna, Frankfurt and Hamburg. Highlights of their London season include Strauss Alpine Symphony, Ravel and Rachmaninov double bills and several world premieres, closing with Mahler Symphony No.8 Symphony of a Thousand.

In demand as a guest conductor, this season Edward appears with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Frankfurt Radio, Dallas Symphony, New World Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. Debuts in recent seasons include New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Wiener Symphoniker; with re-invitations to Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Montreal Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano. In the UK he has had longstanding collaborations with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2010-16, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, whom he has conducted at both the First and Last Night of the BBC Proms.

In Spring 2025 Edward returns to the Royal Opera House to conduct the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage Festen having made his debut with a new production of Káťa Kabanová, and he returns to Bayerische Staatsoper in June for Rusalka, following his debut with Peter Grimes in 2022 and Verdi Otello in 2023.  Music Director of English National Opera for eight years (2007-15), Edward also built a strong relationship with The Metropolitan Opera with productions of Damnation of Faust, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and Werther.  Elsewhere, he has conducted at La Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Opéra National de Paris.

Edward has an extensive discography with Chandos. His many recordings with the Bergen Philharmonic feature Brahms, Sibelius, Nielsen, Grieg, Bartok, Schoenberg and Britten, and their recording of Janáček Glagolitic Mass received a Grammy nomination. His recording of Tippett The Midsummer Marriage for LPO Live received the Gramophone Opera Award 2023 and their most recent release is Berlioz The Damnation of Faust.

A passionate supporter of young talent, Edward founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with the Juilliard School of Music, and with the Royal Academy of Music who appointed him their inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Chair in 2014.

Born in Gloucester in 1974, Edward was educated at Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music and gained early recognition as Assistant Conductor of The Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include the Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor of the Year Award (2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009) and an OBE for Services to Music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (2012).

“With prodigious technique and rhapsodic flair, Mr. Abduraimov dispatched the work’s challenges, including burst upon burst of arm-blurring octaves, with eerie command.” (The New York Times)

Behzod Abduraimov performs with renowned orchestras worldwide including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Concertgebouworkest and with prestigious conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Lorenzo Viotti, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Gustavo Dudamel.

In recital Behzod has appeared a number of times at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and has recently been presented by Chicago Symphony, Kölner Philharmonie and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Festival appearances include Aspen, Verbier, Rheingau, La Roque Antheron and Lucerne Festivals.

Forthcoming engagements include Chicago Symphony under Lahav Shani, returns to the Concertgebouworkest, St Petersburgh Philharmonic, Seattle and Dallas Symphonies as well as Oslo and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras. Behzod will be returning to the Barbican Hall, 92nd Street Y, Spivey Hall, Vancouver Recital Series as well as The Conrad Center, La Jolla.

2020 saw the release of two recordings: Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under James Gaffigan, recorded on Rachmaninov’s own piano from Villa Senar for Sony Classical and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 with Concertgebouworkest under Valery Gergiev, for the RCO live label. Both recordings were nominated for the 2020 Opus Klassik awards in multiple categories. A film of his BBC Proms debut in 2016, with the Münchner Philharmoniker under Valery Gergiev, was released as a DVD in 2018.His 2012 debut CD of Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Prokofiev for Decca won the Choc de Classica and Diapason Découverte and his first concerto disc for the label featured Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No.1. 

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1990, Behzod began the piano aged five as a pupil of Tamara Popovich at Uspensky State Central Lyceum in Tashkent. In 2009, he won First Prize at the London International Piano Competition with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3. He studied with Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri, where he is Artist-in-Residence.