Stéphane Denève is Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He previously served as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Music Director of the Brussels Philharmonic, Chief Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Passionate about the future of classical music and a gifted communicator, he is committed to inspiring the next generation of performers and listeners through commissioning, digital and new media initiatives, and innovative concert presentations. In addition to mentoring the young musicians of the New World Symphony, his work as an educator sees him participate regularly in programmes such as those of the Colburn School in Los Angeles, Tanglewood Music Center, the European Union Youth Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, the Curtis Institute, and Music Academy of the West.
Recent European engagements have included appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Deutschen Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony at the BBC Proms, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (with whom he conducted the 2020 Nobel Prize concert), Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Rotterdam Philharmonic.
In North America, Stéphane Denève made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has subsequently appeared at Carnegie Hall on tour with the Brussels Philharmonic and with The Philadelphia Orchestra together with John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma. He is a regular guest-conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and Toronto Symphony. In 2022, Denève was honoured with an invitation to lead the official 90th Birthday Gala for John Williams at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a frequent visitor to many of the US summer music festivals, including the Hollywood Bowl, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Blossom Music Festival, Bravo!Vail, Festival Napa Valley, Grand Teton Music Festival, Sun Valley Music Festival, and Music Academy of the West.
Elsewhere in recent years he has performed with the NHK Symphony, Sydney Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, São Paulo Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, with whom he was invited to conduct the 125th anniversary gala for Deutsche Grammophon at Suntory Hall alongside John Williams.
Stéphane Denève frequently collaborates with many of the world’s leading solo artists, including Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Yefim Bronfman, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Sasha Cooke, James Ehnes, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Olivier Latry, Isabel Leonard, Paul Lewis, Nikolai Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Kelley O’Connor, Víkingur Ólafsson, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Golda Schultz, Gil Shaham, Akiko Suwanai, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Davóne Tines, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. He also treasures the memory of Nicholas Angelich and Lars Vogt, two exceptional artists with whom he enjoyed a close musical friendship over many years.
In the field of opera, Stéphane Denève has led productions at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera (including a new production of "Pelléas et Mélisande" with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for the Holland Festival), Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Monnaie, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The 2026/27 season sees him return to Netherlands Opera to conduct a new production of Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" for the Holland Festival with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
As a recording artist, Stéphane Denève has won critical acclaim for his discography – in particular the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck, and Connesson. He is a triple winner of the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, has been shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year Award, and has won the prize for symphonic music at the International Classical Music Awards. His latest release was recorded with the St. Louis Symphony and dedicated to the music of Kevin Puts.
Other recent recording projects have included Bernstein’s Serenade and John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 1 with James Ehnes and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; a recording of Honegger’s "Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher" with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; an album of John Williams’ film music recorded for Deutsche Grammophon; and two discs of the works of Guillaume Connesson with the Brussels Philharmonic (the first of which was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, the Caecilia Award, and Classica Magazine’s CHOC of the Year). A box-set of his complete Ravel recordings with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was released in 2022 by Hänssler Classic.
A graduate and prize-winner of the Paris Conservatoire, Stéphane Denève worked closely in his early career with Sir Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa and Georges Prêtre and was mentored by the Belgian pedagogue and pianist André Dumortier.