L’Auditori appoints young Stephanie Childress as OBC’s main guest conductor for the next two seasons. Starting in September, the Franco-British conductor born in London in 1999 will take over from the Polish Marta Gardolinska, who is garnering very good reviews and who can still be seen directing Haydn’s Creation and Elgar’s Enigma Variations in the spring. . The public of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya will be able to have an insight into the work of Childress on April 27 and 28, with Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and together with the pianist Yulianna Avdeeva in Concert no. 2 by Chopin.
Daughter of a French woman but born and educated in London, the appointment of Childress – who debuted at the head of the OBC on its tour of Catalonia in the 2021-22 season – represents a new step in the commitment to the most prominent emerging figures on the international circuit. but also in the sought-after parity on the podium that Robert Brufau, director of L’Auditori, is proposing. “It rarely happens that a young artist generates such a forceful and homogeneous impact in the sector,” says the person in charge of the Barcelona facility. “With his elegance and lucidity, Childress took a giant step in his career by winning the international competition La Teacher, from Paris.”
L’Auditori was part of the ECHO commission of the Jury of this competition and, taking into account the meteoric trajectory that Childress has had since then on both sides of the Atlantic, his appointment as head of the OBC is a new opportunity to position the institution as international reference, “not only in music, but as a reflection of the rich and complex social reality that surrounds us,” adds Brufau.
Since the youth of Sir John Eliot Gardiner or Sir Simon Rattle, few conductors have burst onto the London scene leaving the mark that Childress is leaving. The media speaks of her remarkable musical mastery and mastery of a wide repertoire that has taken her to both symphony and opera houses and contemporary ensembles. Already in November 2020 she made a last-minute jump in to replace a complete Susanna Mälkki at the head of the London Symphony in a Sibelius and Saariaho program that Medici broadcast. That season she also appeared leading the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.
Her rise has led her to also conduct the Berlin Symphony and the Paris Orchestra. She took over the direction of Le Nozze di Figaro a year ago in Glyndebourne and this season she has made her debut at the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Clevelant Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Polish National Radio Symphony and the Detroit Opera. She is passionate about opera and has directed performances of Britten’s chamber title The Rape of Lucretia and Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement.
“I feel very honored to be able to strengthen my ties with an organization that has been very dear to me since our first meeting,” said Childress about her appointment as head of the OBC. The artist who began her musical career as a violinist says “I am delighted to advance my career at the same time as the orchestra, alongside such wonderful musicians and a team led by maestro Ludovic Morlot. I look forward to living many musical moments together.” precious and share them with the Catalan and Spanish public in one of the most dynamic cities in the world.
