Brahms 3

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is currently music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), following six seasons as principal guest conductor. In July 2022, Thomas was named to succeed Osmo Vänskä as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, becoming music director designate in the 2022-23 season and assuming the director role in 2023-24. Between 2012 and 2018, he served as principal conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), after stepping down as principal conductor and musical advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. 

He has appeared with many notable orchestras in leading European centres, such as Berlin (including Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra), Leipzig (Gewandhausorchester), Paris (Orchestre National de France), London (London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Symphony, and Philharmonia Orchestra), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic); and he is a familiar figure in Scandinavia, with such orchestras as Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, and Helsinki Philharmonic. North American appearances have included the symphony orchestras of Houston, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Montreal, Vancouver, and Seattle. He has made highly successful tours to China, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. 

The 2022-23 season will see Thomas return to the Edinburgh International Festival (Mahler Symphony No. 3) and the BBC Proms with the RSNO. The two Proms performances will be centred around Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, performed by Nicola Benedetti. Plans for the RSNO main season include a full Brahms symphony cycle, Britten’s War Requiem and further European touring. Thomas makes extensive guest appearances in the United States this season, with debut appearances with Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony, alongside return visits in Houston and to the Minnesota Orchestra and Chicago Symphony. On the operatic stage, following his Reumert award-winning appearance in early 2022 for Die Walküre, Thomas will return to Royal Danish Opera this season to conduct Strauss’s Elektra. Also in his native Denmark, he returns to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra to conduct the world premiere of Rune Glerup’s new violin concerto with Isabelle Faust. 

Through her acclaimed international concert appearances and her award-winning Naïve label recordings, Lise de la Salle has established a reputation as one of today’s most exciting young artists and as a musician of uncommon sensibility and maturity. Her playing inspired a Washington Post critic to write, “For much of the concert, the audience had to remember to breathe… the exhilaration didn’t let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.”  

A native of France, Lise first came to international attention in 2005, at age 16, with a Bach/Liszt recording selected by Gramophone Magazine as its Recording of the Month. Her recordings have since received numerous Editor’s Choice, Recording of the Month, and Diapason D’or awards and critical acclaim for more than a dozen recordings. When Do We Dance? (2021) presents a century of dance-inspired works from around the globe.  

Lise has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including multiple reengagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. A sought-after recitalist, she has captivated enthusiastic audiences and critics in major series worldwide.  

Her 2022-23 North American season sees returns to the Aspen Music Festival and San Francisco Performances in recital, and to the Houston, Dallas, Quebec, and Atlanta Symphonies, among others. Debuts include the St. Louis Symphony and recitals in Ottawa and Detroit. Recent and forthcoming highlights abroad include a complete Beethoven concerto cycle in Spain, her concerto debut at the Paris Philharmonie and orchestral performances in Berlin, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Auckland, and on tour with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  

Born in Cherbourg, France, in 1988, Lise began studying the piano at age 4 and gave her first concert at 9 in a live Radio-France broadcast. A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, at 13, she made her concerto debut, her Paris recital debut at the Louvre and embarked on a tour with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France. She has won first prize in many competitions, including the European Young Concert Artists Auditions and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.