Lawrence Renes

Conductor

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“The biggest share of praise, however, is due to conductor Lawrence Renes… the results are overwhelming.”
(The Financial Times, January 2015)

Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes is highly regarded in both the operatic and symphonic spheres, praised for his impeccable ability to balance orchestra and singers and for delivering performances of passion, nuance and style.

Renes opens the 2019/20 season with a return to San Francisco Opera for Billy Budd, in Michael Grandage’s acclaimed production. He goes on to London to conduct a programme of Strauss and Prokofiev for his third visit to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with the rest of the season including debuts with Orchestre National de Lyon and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and returns to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (on tour in South America) Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (following a spectacular Verdi Requiem last season), Residentie Orkest, Tampere Philharmonic and Malta Philharmonic.

Last season, Renes performed frequently in Asia, including visits to Japan with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra. He then went on to premiere George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in China with Beijing Music Festival and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra; and made his debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, in an electric programme of Sibelius, Brahms and Richard Mills. Other engagements in recent seasons include opera productions in Brussels, Seattle, Lisbon and Santa Fe; and symphonic appearances with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Oslo Philharmonic, OSESP in Sao Paulo, Helsinki Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony.

Formerly Music Director of the Royal Swedish Opera, his repertoire there ranged from Mozart through to the 21^st Century. An energetic champion of contemporary repertoire, he is particularly associated with the music of John Adams (having conducted productions of Nixon in China at San Francisco Opera and Doctor Atomic at both English National Opera and De Nederlandse Opera — the DVD of the latter was named as one of the Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year for 2008 in The New Yorker – and orchestral works with London and Hong Kong philharmonic orchestras, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra) but also with George Benjamin, Mark Anthony Turnage, Guillaume Connesson and Robin de Raaff.

Lawrence Renes - Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 (excerpt) © BBC Radio 3 and BBC SSO

John Adams- Shaker Loops (excerpt)

“Renes and the players gave the symphony a beautifully balanced performance, moving easily and convincingly from big, broad statements to light, delicate timbres, bringing the same clarity and meaning to interior lines and layers as they did to the piece’s biggest moments. Renes led the orchestra through a fascinating rendition of the piece that included grand swells and ebbs, ensemble precision, [and] musical clarity.”

(Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 2015)

“The biggest share of praise, however, is due to conductor Lawrence Renes, who kept the singers precisely in tension while bringing his orchestra to a level of precision and dynamism I’ve never heard them equal. As a result Benjamin’s score emerged in this intimate acoustic with a clarity and immediacy I found neither in Aix nor in London… the results are overwhelming.” 5 stars

(Guy Dammann, The Financial Times, January 2015)

“In the Shostakovich symphony, where feverish tension plays so major a role, [Renes’ beat] fired a brutish, trenchant response.”

(Ken Walton, The Scotsman, May 2014)

“Lawrence Renes draws a lustre and responsiveness as to confirm his rapport with musicians whose Chief Conductor he has been since 2012. One hopes he will be heard on disc with this orchestra again before long.”

(Richard Whitehouse, International Record Review, February 2014)