Alpesh Chauhan
OBE is Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company. His debut album featuring orchestral works by Tchaikovsky, released with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on Chandos Records in June 2023, was received to great critical acclaim, described in Gramophone as enthralling and named BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Choice of the Month. ​

Recent and forthcoming highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Houston Symphonies, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, the Hallé, the Toronto, Atlanta, Melbourne and Antwerp Symphony Orchestras, Symphony Orchestra of India, the London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, of whom he was Associate Conductor, Orchestre National de Lille, and Malmö Symphony Orchestra, touring iconic venues such as Berlin’s Philharmonie, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón, Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall. ​

Alpesh enjoys collaborations with distinguished soloists such as Karen Cargill, Colin Currie, Stefan Dohr, Veronika Eberle, James Ehnes, Pablo Ferrández, Alban Gerhardt, Ilya Gringolts, Benjamin Grosvenor, Brenden Gunnell, Hilary Hahn, Sir Stephen Hough, Zakir Hussain, Pavel Kolesnikov, Johannes Moser, Beatrice Rana, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. He is particularly well-known for his interpretations of the late Romantic and 20th century repertoire, including the works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss, Schönberg, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, alongside championing contemporary and living composers such as Thomas Adès, Anna Clyne, Chaya Czernowin, Henri Dutilleux, Osvaldo Golijov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Zakir Hussain, Nicole Lizée, Jessie Montgomery, John Psathas, Steve Reich, Mark Simpson, and George Walker.

Following his outstanding debut in 2015, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma where he performed complete cycles of the symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms. Alongside the recently critically acclaimed Rheingold, other notable opera titles include Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, West Side Story and productions of Turandot, including at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. ​

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 2015 BBC Ten Pieces film which brought the world of classical music into secondary schools across the UK and received a distinguished BAFTA award. ​

Born in Birmingham, Alpesh studied ‘cello with Eduardo Vassallo at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester before continuing at the RNCM to pursue the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course. Alpesh studied with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and was mentored by Andris Nelsons and Edward Gardner in his post as Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2016. Alpesh was named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the 2021 International Opera Awards and in 2022 he was delighted to receive the Conductor Award from the Italian National Association of Music Critics for ‘Miglior Direttore’. ​

Alpesh was honoured to receive an OBE in HRH The Queen's New Year's Honours in January 2022 for Services to the Arts.