Vladimir Ashkenazy is named as the very first Conductor Laureate of Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This appointment has been made in recognition of his 50 year association with the Orchestra which began in 1969. This is an honour never before bestowed on any previous Sydney Symphony conductor. In celebration of this relationship and appointment, he launches an epic three-year artistic cycle, ​“Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Masterworks” beginning in 2019.

One of the most revered figures in classical music, the legendary pianist and veteran conductor accepts this position having entered his ninth decade. The young-at-heart musician who has a most impressive array of awards and recognitions to his name, as well as a vast discography both as a pianist and a conductor, Ashkenazy enjoys a career rich in achievement but remains, despite the prestige, a musician of the greatest dignity and unparalleled spiritual height. He has continued, for more than 60 years, to thrill audiences around the world and to shape profoundly many generations of musicians, maintaining an incredible level of trust and respect from them. A person of great warmth, humility and generosity, he has contributed immensely to the underprivileged and to humanity in general, reaching well beyond his contribution as a musician.

Vladimir Ashkenazy has a long association with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1969, Ashkenazy made his first visit to Australia as a concerto soloist and recitalist performing, in Sydney alone, four different concertos in six concerts over a period of nine days, as well as two different piano recital programmes earlier in the tour. In 1977, Ashkenazy made his first conducting appearance in Australia with the Orchestra. In 2004, Ashkenazy returned as a conductor presenting a two week programme of Sibelius, which proved an artistic highlight, and set the template for the Orchestra’s annual composer festivals. Ashkenazy served as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor from 2009 to 2013. He has taken the Orchestra on tours throughout Europe and Asia, and conducted an acclaimed Mahler symphony cycle in 2010 – 2011, recorded for the Sydney Symphony Live label. Other highlights of Ashkenazy’s large-scale projects with the Orchestra include an acclaimed all-Rachmaninov programme in 2006, a series of concerts featuring the music of Elgar and Tchaikovsky, a cycle of Beethoven symphonies and concertos in 2016, and the most recent Shostakovich tribute concert series in 2017, to mention just a few.

Ashkenazy accepts the Conductor Laureate position alongside other commitments such as Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia, NHK and Iceland symphony orchestras, as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana.