Conductor

Andrew Manze is widely celebrated as one of the most stimulating and inspirational conductors of his generation. His extensive and scholarly knowledge of the repertoire, together with his boundless energy and warmth, mark him out. He held the position of Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover from 2014 until 2023. Since 2018, he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Manze’s time as Chief Conductor in Hannover saw him lead the orchestra in highly successful tours to China in 2016 and 2019, as well as a return to Japan in 2022. Manze and the orchestra made a major series of award-winning recordings for Pentatone, focused on the works of Mendelssohn and Mozart. The first recording in the Mendelssohn series won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik. Manze has also recorded a cycle of the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for Onyx Classics to critical acclaim.

In great demand as a guest conductor across the globe, Manze has long-standing relationships with many leading orchestras, and in the 23/24 season will return to the Royal Concertgebouworkest, the Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphoniker, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, RSB Berlin, and the Dresden Philharmonic among others, and will lead the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in their tour of Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Eisenstadt.

In North America, Manze has been a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City, and in recent seasons has made debuts with Boston Symphony,
Atlanta Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. The 22/23 season saw Manze makes his operatic debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, conducting
performances of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” alongside Schoenberg’s “Erwartung”. Other highlights of the 22/23 season included debuts with the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra, as well as performances with the London Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Orchestras.

From 2006 to 2014, Manze was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. During this time he made a number of recordings
with them including Beethoven Eroica (Harmonia Mundi) and a cycle of Brahms symphonies (CPO). He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Norwegian Radio
Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2011, and held the title of Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for four seasons.

After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Manze studied the violin and rapidly became a leading specialist in the world of historical performance practice. He
became Associate Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in 1996, and then Artistic Director of the English Concert from 2003 to 2007. As a violinist, Manze released an astonishing variety of recordings, many of them award-winning.

Manze is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy, and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concerti by Bach and
Mozart, published by Bärenreiter, Breitkopf and Härtel. He also teaches, writes about, and edits music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television. In
November 2011 Andrew Manze received the prestigious ‘Rolf Schock Prize’ in Stockholm.

Photo credit: Benjamin Ealovega