Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles
Sir Donald Runnicles, OBE
Over the course of a career spanning 45 years, Sir Donald Runnicles has built his reputation on enduring relationships with several of the most significant opera companies and orchestras and is especially celebrated for his interpretations of Romantic and post-Romantic symphonic and opera repertoire which are core to his musical identity. He is the Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2009-2026) and the Grand Teton Music Festival (since 2005) and has held chief artistic leadership roles at the San Francisco Opera (1992-2008), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (2009-16), and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (2001-07). Sir Donald was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than two decades (2001-23), and he is the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (since 2019). In February 2024, Runnicles was appointed as Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, beginning in the 2025-26 season.
Runnicles concludes his tenure with the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, new productions of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde by Michael Thalheimer and Korngold’s Violanta by David Hermann, all culminating in two cycles of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in a Stefan Herheim production that he premiered with the company. Over the course of his sixteen-year tenure, Runnicles cemented himself as one of the central figures in the German cultural scene. Significant artistic achievements with the company include the completion of a Strauss cycle including Die Frau ohne Schatten, Arabella and Intermezzo in collaboration with director Tobias Kratzer; a survey of Janáček’s operas including Jenůfa, Káťa Kabanová, Die Sache Makropulos and Das schlaue Füchslein; world premieres of Detlev Glanert’s Oceane and Aribert Reimann’s L’Invisible, as well as introducing the music of Benjamin Britten to the company with performances of Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Death in Venice and The Rape of Lucretia.
In Runnicles’ inaugural season as Chief Conductor with the Dresden Philharmonic in 25/26, he led ten weeks of programs including a concertante version of Strauss’ Elektra, highlighted his British heritage with performances of William Walton’s Viola Concerto with British violist Timothy Ridout, and Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan’s Symphony No. 4 (which was originally composed to celebrate Maestro Runnicles’s 60th birthday), and concludes the season with a ten-city tour of Japan and Korea.
He returned to conduct four weeks as Principal Guest Conductor of the Sydney Symphony with performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Violin Concerto No. 1 with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, as well as Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Guest engagements for the 25/26 season included performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with the BBC Scottish Symphony, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 in his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
Runnicles spends his summers as Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival. This seven-week festival of symphonic and chamber music, five of which are conducted by Maestro Runnicles, takes place amid the breathtaking beauty of Grand Teton National Park. Highlights of the 2026 season include Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, Shostakovich’s First and Beethoven’s Sixth Symphonies, violinist Maria Ioudenitch performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and soloists José González Granero and Madeline Adkins from the Festival Orchestra.
His extensive discography includes recordings of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Billy Budd, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Aribert Reimann’s L’invisible. His recording of Wagner arias with Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin won the 2013 Gramophone prize for Best Vocal Recording, and his recording of Janáček’s Jenůfa with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin was nominated for a 2016 GRAMMY® award for Best Opera Recording. He has pioneered two recordings with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra released on Reference Recordings: The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with pianist Garrick Ohlsson (2023) and Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (2026).
Runnicles was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was appointed OBE in 2004 and was made a Knight Bachelor in 2020. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.