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David Porcelijn - Conductor

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Discography

“The reason the van Gilse (3rd Symphony) came across so well was certainly because of the conductor David Porcelijn. Porcelijn turned out to be a first class maestro who knows exactly what he wants and what he can do with romantic repertoire. This was also audible in the Venusberg music from Wagner's Tannhäuser where, from a touchingly beautiful quiet beginning to its excited end, Porcelijn brought indispensable calm to the sound before building the music up to a coherent and rousing conclusion.“
Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (Enschede) / Maarten Mestrom - de Stentor, 21st March '09

David Porcelijn became chief conductor of the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Denmark, in September 2010. He is one of the most outstanding Dutch musicians of his generation.  A most highly regarded orchestral trainer, he has held positions as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RTB Symphony Orchestra in Belgrade, Music Director and Conductor of the Netherlands Dance Theatre. He has also been professor in conducting at the Utrecht – Amsterdam Conservatoire and at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

David Porcelijn has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and, elsewhere, the Sydney Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden Baden und Freiburg, Orquesta Filharmónica de Gran Canaria, NDR Radiophilharmonie and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra amongst many others in recent seasons.  Beyond his work in core repertoire he also conducts new music throughout the world appearing, for example, with music of contemporary Chinese composers in three concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival.  His work sees him conducting in three continents with major cultural organisations like Opera Australia, the Prague Spring Festival and the Orquesta Filharmónica de la Cuidad de México.  David Porcelijn has a broad operatic repertoire and will be conducting Janacek’s Jenufa this season in Belgrade.  In 1992 he was awarded the prize “Best Opera Conductor” at the Munich Biennial for a production with Netherlands Opera.  In 1994 he made his British operatic debut conducting Verdi’s Oberto at Opera North.  He made his Australian opera debut in 1991 conducting Rigoletto for the State Opera of South Australia, where he has since conducted Macbeth, La Traviata and John Adams’ Nixon in China and, for Opera Queensland, Madama Butterfly.  His work for Opera Australia at Sydney Opera House has included Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Les contes d’Hoffmann and Il barbiere di Siviglia and, in co-operation with Opera Australia, he also conducted a semi-staged version of Rossini’s La Cenerentola.

David Porcelijn is an accomplished recording artist who is currently making most of his CDs for cpo. These already include the symphonies of Christian Sinding with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and he has now begun several major recording cycles for cpo of complete works by Dutch composers who include Jan van Gilse, Julius Röntgen, Henk Badings and Willem Pijper alongside recording CDs of music by Jeff Hamburg, Jacqueline Fontyn, the Czech composer Martin Smolka and the Serbian Isadora Zebeljan for other labels.  In previous years many of his recordings were made for ABC Classics in Australia which included a complete cycle of Beethoven Symphonies, Messiaen’s éclairs sur l’Au-délà and music by the Australian composers Richard Meale, Peter Sculthorpe, Nigel Westlake and Mathew Hindson alongside music by Kurt Schwertsik, Schubert Lieder orchestrated by Brahms, Reger, Offenbach and Liszt.  For EMERGO he has recorded music by the Dutch composers Hans Kox with the Tasmanian SO and Tristan Keuris with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. 

July 2010

Discography

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