Thomas Adès

Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. His compositions include three operas: he conducted the premiere of the most recent, The Exterminating Angel, at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Royal Opera House, London. He conducted the premiere and revival of The Tempest at the Royal Opera House, and a new production at The Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper and in November 2022 at La Scala, Milan. Thomas led the world premiere of his full-evening ballet The Dante Project at Covent Garden, and conducted it in May 2023 at the Opéra Garnier, Paris. He conducted a new production of The Exterminating Angel, featuring a critically acclaimed staging from Calixto Bieito, in spring 2024 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

He frequently leads performances of his orchestral works: Asyla (1997); Tevot (2007); Polaris (2010); Violin Concerto Concentric Paths (2005); In Seven Days for piano and orchestra (2008); Totentanz for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra (2013); the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2019). Other recent works include Shanty – over the Sea for strings (2020); Märchentänze for solo violin and piano and a separate version with orchestra (2021), Air – Homage to Sibelius for violin and orchestra, a Roche commission for Anne-Sophie Mutter (2022) & Aquifer an orchestral work commissioned by the Symphoniorchester des Bayerischen Runfunk, with support from Carnegie Hall and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien.

The 2025-26 season sees Thomas debut with the Swedish Radio Symphony & Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. Return engagements will include the BBC Symphony (Proms), London Symphony, The Hallé, Czech Philharmonic, Concertgebouworkest, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France & Vienna Radio Symphony. Thomas also serves as the Creative Chair of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich for the 25-26 season and celebrates the 100th birthday of György Kurtág at the Budapest Music Centre. 

As conductor, Thomas appears regularly with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Finnish Radio, Royal Concertgebouw, Santa Cecilia, Toronto Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestras. In opera, in addition to The Exterminating Angel, he has conducted The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House and Zürich Opera, and the premieres of three operas by Gerald Barry, including the Los Angeles world premieres of The Importance of Being Earnest and Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, of which he also gave the European premiere at Covent Garden. Recent highlights have also included touring projects with the Vienna Philharmonic & Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris, alongside concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. 

The world premiere recording of Thomas Adès’ Dante from Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024. Recorded live at Walt Disney Concert Hall and released through Nonesuch, Dante is a 90-minute ballet score in three parts inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. It debuted as part of The Dante Project ballet at the Royal Opera House in 2021, choreographed by Wayne McGregor and designed by Tacita Dean.

Thomas' CD recording of The Tempest from the Royal Opera House (EMI) won the Contemporary category of the 2010 Gramophone Awards; his DVD of the production from the Metropolitan Opera was awarded the Diapason d'Or de l'année (2013), Best Opera recording (2014 Grammy Awards) and Music DVD Recording of the Year (2014 ECHO Klassik Awards). Recent piano releases include an album of solo piano music by Janáček and a live album of Winterreise with Ian Bostridge. Thomas’ solo disc of Janáček’s piano music won the 2018 Janáček medal. In 2023, Thomas was awarded the BBVA Foundation ‘Frontiers of Knowledge’ prize.