David Robertson

David Robertson first gained widespread recognition in the new millennium as one of the leading American conductors, serving as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Although his programming has consistently featured American composers, it has also embraced significant works by European and Russian figures. He has maintained a steady presence in the opera house and has issued recordings across numerous imprints. A 2021 production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, starring Angel Blue and Eric Owens, brought him his second Grammy Award, and in 2023 he assumed the newly established role of creative partner of the Utah Symphony.

Born in Santa Monica, California, on July 19, 1959, Robertson took up French horn and violin during his formative years and first displayed a conducting interest at age 12. He entered the Royal Academy of Music to study horn and composition before adding conducting to his curriculum. After completing his studies, he worked as a freelance conductor and traveled internationally as a lecturer on musical topics under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency. His initial major appointment arrived in 1985 when he became resident conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 1987. Between 1992 and 2000 he served as music director of the Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris. While based in the French capital he continued to guest-conduct across Europe, directing the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Orchestre de Paris; the latter collaboration yielded his first significant recording, Silvestrov’s Symphony No. 5 and Postludium, issued by Sony in 1996. He has since appeared with orchestras on every continent and has been a frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, where his 1996 debut in Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair was followed by several returns, among them the company premieres of John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer and Nico Muhly’s Two Boys. After leaving the Ensemble Intercontemporain he served as music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon from 2000 to 2004.

Robertson’s association with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra began with guest engagements in 1999; he assumed the music directorship in 2005 while simultaneously becoming principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He remained with the BBC ensemble until 2012 and with the St. Louis Symphony until 2018. Both orchestras appeared under his direction at the BBC Proms, including the St. Louis Symphony’s inaugural visit and the “Last Night of the Proms” with the BBC Symphony in 2012. In 2008 he directed two California festivals—the Concrete Frequency Festival for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Ojai Music Festival. His recording of John Adams’s City Noir with the St. Louis Symphony on Nonesuch earned a Grammy Award in 2014, the same year he was appointed chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a position he occupied through the end of 2019.

In 2018 Robertson was named director of conducting studies and distinguished visiting faculty at Juilliard, and he joined the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council the following year. His discography spans Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, and Harmonia Mundi. A 2019 Canary Classics release captured Mozart piano concertos performed by the St. Louis Symphony with his wife, pianist Orli Shaham, as soloist. That same year a live Metropolitan Opera recording of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, again featuring Eric Owens and Angel Blue, secured Robertson’s second Grammy. Guest engagements have continued worldwide, among them his 2022 Rome Opera debut in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová. In 2023 he was appointed creative partner of the Utah Symphony.

Robertson has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.