Alpesh Chauhan is Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company, Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. His most recent collaboration with Birmingham Opera Company with the CBSO at Symphony Hall with Wagner’s ’RhineGold’ was received to critical acclaim: “…The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s sound [was] controlled with an absolutely sure hand by the company’s Music Director Alpesh Chauhan – who was superb throughout.” The Telegraph *****
Forthcoming highlights of the 21/22 season include his opening concert as Principal Guest of Dusseldorf Symphoniker (Beethoven Symphony No. 6), his debut with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and projects with Santa Cecilia, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony at the Barbican, the Orchestra of Opera North, Ulster Orchestra and RAI Torino as well as extensive recording and symphonic projects with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
The 2019 production of Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ with Birmingham Opera Company was a triumph and led to him being named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the 2021 International Opera Awards. Chauhan has also enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, who named him as their Principal Conductor and with whom he has performed and recorded staples of the great symphonic repertoire, including a complete cycle of Brahms’ Symphonies. Other highlights of his career to date include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, with the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms, a production of Turandot in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía as well as regular appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra where until 2016 he was Assistant Conductor.
Frequently appearing as a guest with acclaimed international orchestras including the Orchestre National d’Île de France, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Alpesh also enjoys collaborations with distinguished soloists such as Nicola Benedetti, Pablo Ferrández, Boris Giltburg, Ilya Gringolts, Benjamin Grosvenor, Stephen Hough, Leila Josefowicz, Pavel Kolesnikov, Johannes Moser, Arcadi Volodos, and singers Markus Werba, Christianne Stotijn and Jennifer Wilson among others.
Alpesh’s concerts have been broadcast on radio and television in the UK, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands, including his performance of Shostakovich’s 5th symphony with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, which was televised on RAI 5. He has been featured in extensive articles in The Times, BBC Music and Classical Music magazines as well as Italy’s La Repubblica, Amadeus and Musica, and guest blogged for Gramophone magazine. Alpesh has been interviewed on Italian national TV, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4, and Radio Klara Belgium, and also presented an edition of BBC Radio 3’s Inside Music. He was appointed to the judging panels for the 2016 and 2018 editions of BBC Young Musician of the Year, and was nominated for The Times ‘Breakthrough Award’ at The South Bank Sky Arts Awards in 2019.
A keen advocate of music education for young people, Alpesh is a patron of Awards for Young Musicians, a UK charity supporting talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on their musical journeys. He has also worked with ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the symphony orchestras of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Northern College of Music. He was the conductor of the second BBC Ten Pieces film which brought the world of classical music into secondary schools across the country and received a distinguished BAFTA award. Alpesh has also written on the vital importance and necessity of exposing young children to music in Music Teacher magazine.
Born in Birmingham, Alpesh studied ‘cello at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester before continuing at the RNCM to pursue the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course. Alpesh has studied with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, participated in masterclasses with Juanjo Mena, Vasily Petrenko and Jac van Steen, and has been mentored by Andris Nelsons and Edward Gardner.