Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBCNOW) and Principal Guest Conductor of Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO); prior to this, he was for three seasons Principal Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. He has recently been announced as Music Director of Royal Scottish National Orchestra from September 2018.

Recent seasons have included visits to London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker; leading tours with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and European Union Youth Orchestra; Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Brussels Philharmonic; Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestre National d’Ile de France; Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Seattle Symphony Orchestra. With RSNO, recent highlights include performances of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen and with BBC NOW, the complete Stravinsky The Firebird, recordings and touring.

Plans for 2017/18 include debuts with Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Gurzenich-Orchester Köln, SWR Baden-Baden, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and return visits to London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Mahler Symphony No. 1), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Stravinsky’s Firebird), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the revival of The Magic Flute with Norske Opera. With RSNO he conducts performances of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and for the RSNO Piano Competition. Plans with BBC NOW include a programme with highly acclaimed pianist Stephen Hough and performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12 and Sibelius Symphony No. 5.

A passionate supporter of the music of Carl Nielsen, his most recent programme with Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester (Symphony No. 5) received wide praise as “equal of the great pioneers of Nielsen interpretation… It’s harder to imagine a finer performance of this remarkable symphony” (Dagens Nyheter). As part of the 2015 anniversary celebrations of both Sibelius and Nielsen he conducted a wide variety of works by these two composers with many leading orchestras.

Thomas is also an experienced opera conductor at home in mainstream and contemporary repertoire. Recent seasons have included Bayerische Staatsoper (Turandot), Deutsche Oper Berlin (world premiere of Scartazzini’s Edward II) Royal Danish Opera (Il viaggio a Reims), and Tosca, Turandot (Nina Stemme) and Les dialogues des Carmelites for Kungliga Operan (Royal Swedish Opera). He was described as “a sensation” at his debut with the Royal Danish Opera conducting Ruders' opera Kafka's Trial: "He is one of the best things that has happened to the art of opera for many years" and subsequent productions there have included Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le Nozze di Figaro, La bohème and Cunning Little Vixen. He made his Norske Opera debut with their new, highly-successful Die Zauberflöte.

In Spring 2015, Thomas and BBCNOW released their first commercial recording of Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 2 and 7 (LINN Records), followed recently by Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6, which has received very positive reviews, including from BBC Radio Scotland "Classics Unwrapped": “His attention to detail, the atmospheres of the pieces have all been beautifully crafted.” Other noteworthy recordings include Vilde Frang's celebrated first recording for EMI, and Ruders’ Piano Concerto No. 2 on Bridge Records which was nominated for a Gramophone Award in 2011. Admired for his interpretations of Scandinavian contemporary repertoire, his discography also includes a number of other contemporary works. In 2011 he was awarded the prestigious Queen Ingrid Foundation Prize for services to Music in Denmark.

China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Established in March 2010, the orchestra consists of highly accomplished musicians from around the world, who perform in more than a dozen opera productions presented by its home venue each year as well as in ballets and regular orchestral concerts in its own season. With a notably busy schedule, the young ensemble has fast established itself as one of the most adventurous and dynamic orchestras in the country. LÜ Jia took up the post of Chief Conductor in February 2012, succeeding CHEN Zuohuang, the current Conductor Laureate, NCPA’s then Artistic Director of Music as well as a founder of the orchestra. In January 2017, upon CHEN Zuohuang's retirement, LÜ Jia started serving as NCPA's Artistic Director of Music and the NCPA Orchestra's Music Director.

The NCPA Orchestra demonstrates an abiding commitment to the highest levels of artistic excellence and takes pride in its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our time. Artists associated with the orchestra in the past few years have included Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Fabio Luisi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leif Segerstam, Gunter Herbig, Hannu Lintu, Claus Peter Flor, Shao-Chia Lü, TANG Muhai, ZHANG Xian, ZHANG Guoyong, ZHANG Yi, Rudolf Buchbinder, Stephen Kovacevich, Khatia Buniatishvili, Behzod Abduraimov, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, CHEN Sa, ZHANG Haochen, WANG Jian, Gautier Capucon, Kyung-Wha Chung, Vadim Repin, LU Siqing, NING Feng, Alison Balsom, Sabine Meyer, LI Biao, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Renee Fleming, Liang Li and HE Hui among many others. Lorin Maazel worked closely with the orchestra before his passing and praised the musicians for their “amazing professionalism and great passion in music”. After working with the orchestra in a series of concerts, Christoph Eschenbach also declared it as “one of the finest orchestras in Asia”.

In the first few years since its establishment, China NCPA Orchestra has become one of the leading ensembles in the country both on stage and in the pit, gaining critical acclaim for its performances in NCPA’s many opera productions. To date, they have played for over 30 new productions, including not only classical repertoire such as Tristan and Isolde, Tosca, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Fledermaus, Aida, Otello, Nabucco, but also newly commissioned works including Rickshaw Boy, The Long March, FANG Zhimin, The Jinsha River, and Visitors on the Snow Mountain. In its own orchestral concert season, the orchestra has consistently presented creative and diverse programmes. Their performance of the Ring without Words with its creator, Lorin Maazel, was released on SONY Music worldwide, the only recording the great maestro ever made with a Chinese orchestra.

Another important field of work that the orchestra has explored extensively in the short period of time since its establishment is the creation and promotion of contemporary music. Having presented the Chinese premieres of major works by John Admas, Toru Takemitsu et al, it gave the world premieres of more than ten substantial new orchestral works commissioned by the NCPA, written by composers from across the globe including CHEN Qigang, ZHAO Jiping, Michael Gordon, Augusta Read Thomas, Kalevi Aho, and Joby Talbot. It has also played a major role in the NCPA's annual Young Composers Programme, providing a unique platform nurturing the next generation of Chinese composers.

The NCPA Orchestra has flexed its wings on the international stage, receiving widespread international praise for its performances at the Kissingen Summer Music Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and concerts in many cities in Germany, as well as in Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Abu Dhabi, Taipei and Macao. The orchestra undertook its first North American tour in 2014 and the revisiting tour in 2017, where it performed at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Davies Symphony Hall and other major venues in the US and Canada, under the baton of LÜ Jia. Musical America praised its “joyful confidence and youthful strength”. Concerto Net described it as “a polished, first rate ensemble”.

With its commitment to educational and outreach activities, the orchestra has presented a series of Weekend Concerts at its home venue. With specially selected programmes and accessible ticket prices, these have become extremely popular with Beijing audience new to classical music. In addition, the orchestra frequently initiates wide-reaching educational projects in association with educational institutions across the city.

The 18/19 season has “Forever Young” as its theme, featuring concerts conducted by LÜ Jia, Rainer Honeck, CHEN Lin, ZHANG Xian, David Robertson, YUAN Ding, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Thomas Sondergard, LI Biao, Daniel Gatti, Shao-Chia Lü , with soloists LU Siqing, Li-Wei Qin, SHEN Yang, MENG Meng, Clara-Jumi Kang, Truls Mork, Hsin-Yun Huang, Orli Shaham, YUAN Fang, Laticia Moreno, Alexei Volodin, Derek Han, NING Feng, SUN Yingdi, YANG Tianwa and many others. LU Siqing and LI Biao, both as this season's Artist-in-Residence, will lead a number of concerts as well as educational projects. The orchestra will also perform in thirteen NCPA opera productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Romeo and Juliet, La sonnambula, Don Giovanni, and LAN Huahua.