Alpesh Chauhan

British conductor Alpesh Chauhan is Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company. His most recent collaboration with Birmingham Opera Company and the CBSO at Symphony Hall in Wagner’s Rheingold was received to critical acclaim: “…The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s sound [was] controlled with an absolutely sure hand by the company’s Music Director Alpesh Chauhan – who was superb throughout.” The Telegraph *****

Forthcoming highlights this season include debuts with Oslo Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony with Hilary Hahn, Hallé Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Melbourne, Adelaide and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras, Poznan Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Symphony Orchestra of India and returns to the London Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Filarmonica Toscanini, La Fenice, BBC Symphony at the Barbican, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Antwerp Symphony as well as varied recording and symphonic projects with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and community projects with Birmingham Opera Company.

He frequently appears as guest conductor with acclaimed international orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony (most recently Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony), London Symphony Orchestra,  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Alpesh also enjoys collaborations with distinguished soloists such as Nicola Benedetti, Colin Currie, Pablo Ferrández, Veronika Eberle, Ilya Gringolts, Benjamin Grosvenor, Stephen Hough, Leila Josefowicz, Pavel Kolesnikov, Johannes Moser, Arcadi Volodos, and singers Karen Cargill, Markus Werba and Christianne Stotijn among others.

Following his outstanding debut in 2015, he was appointed Principal Conductor of Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma and performed and recorded much of the great symphonic repertoire, including a complete cycle of Brahms’ Symphonies.  Alongside the recently critically-acclaimed Rheingold, other notable opera titles include Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, West Side Story and  a production of Turandot in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía.

A keen advocate of music education for young people, Alpesh is a patron of Awards for Young Musicians, a UK charity supporting talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on their musical journeys. He has also worked with ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the symphony orchestras of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Northern College of Music. He was the conductor of the 2015 BBC Ten Pieces film which brought the world of classical music into secondary schools across the UK and received a distinguished BAFTA award.

Born in Birmingham, Alpesh studied ‘cello under Eduardo Vassallo at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester  before continuing at the RNCM to pursue the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course. Alpesh has studied with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and was mentored by Andris Nelsons and Edward Gardner in his post as Assistant Conductor of the CBSO 2014-16.

Birmingham Opera Company’s 2019 production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk directed by the late Sir Graham Vick was a triumph and led to Chauhan being named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the 2021 International Opera Awards. In 2022 he was delighted to receive the Conductor Award from the Italian National Association of Music Critics for ‘Miglior Direttore’ for concerts across Italy in 2021.

Alpesh was honoured to receive an OBE in HRH The Queen’s New Year’s Honours in January 2022 for Services to the Arts.