Musicians of Sinfonia Viva

André de Ridder
Principal Conductor

André de Ridder has collaborated with artists and ensembles as diverse as the Philharmonia Orchestra, award-winning cartoon band Gorillaz, jazz musician Uri Caine and MusikFabrik. He is in his fifth season as Principal Conductor of the UK-based Sinfonia Viva, and his programmes with the orchestra are typically rich in innovation. His passion for the development of contemporary music has contributed to his position as one of today’s most fascinating and versatile conductors.

In the UK, de Ridder is a regular guest with many orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ulster Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia and the Hallé Orchestra. Elsewhere, he has recently worked with such orchestras as Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Tapiola Sinfonietta, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and Camerata Salzburg, with whom he went on tour in February 2010. These have led to many reinvitations in future seasons.

In 2011/12, he returns to the Hallé Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Royal Danish Orchestra and Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Heidelberg and makes his debut with Trondheim Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Copenhagen Philharmonic, the latter in their '60 Minutes' series. De Ridder has become especially known for his bold programming and blurring of traditions; he will appear at the Kölner Philharmonie (September 2011) and London's Barbican Centre with the electronica duo Mouse on Mars and Musikfabrik, following their collaboration together on Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusikNOW series in January 2011. He also makes his debut with the Resdientie Orkest performing works by Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe and Anna Meredith's 'Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra', of which de Ridder gave the world premiere at London's Southbank Centre in February 2010. He will begin as Artist in Residence at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, performing works by Owen Pallett, Bryce Dessner and Jonny Greenwood, with Noord Nederlands Orkest, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Britten Sinfonia.

He has performed opera at venues including English National Opera, Teatro Real, Theater Basel and Salzburg Festival, with works by composers as diverse as Henze, Janacek, Wolfgang Rihm and Mozart. In 2007-2008 he led premiere performances of Damon Albarn's hugely successful Monkey: Journey to the West at the inaugural Manchester International Festival, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. The phenomenal success of Monkey resulted in further projects with the composer; De Ridder recently orchestrated and conducted on Albarn's latest album with Gorillaz, Plastic Beach, released on EMI in 2010. De Ridder also conducts Albarn’s new theatre work, 'Dr Dee', at the Manchester International Festival 2011.

André de Ridder studied at the Music Academies of Vienna and London, under Leopold Hager and Sir Colin Davis. He was Young Conductor in Association with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and also held the position of Assistant Conductor at the Hallé Orchestra, 2005-2006.

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Photo credit: Marco Borggreve