Mark Wigglesworth (born 19 July 1964,[1] Sussex, England) is a British conductor. Wigglesworth has served as associate conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, as musical director of the Opera Factory of London, and music director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has made guest appearances with leading opera companies and symphonies throughout the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
Wigglesworth attended Bryanston School,[2] Manchester University, and the Royal Academy of Music in London.[3] He won the Kondrashin Conducting Competition in Amsterdam in 1989. John Drummond appointed him associate conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1991, a post he held until 1993.[4] He has also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms, the Hollywood Bowl, the 1995 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam and in 2000 led the Sydney Symphony in the closing concert of the Olympic Arts Festival.[5] Wigglesworth was the Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 1996 until 2000.
Wigglesworth has worked with many of the leading European orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. He is currently in the process of recording a complete Shostakovich Symphony cycle with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic for BIS Records.[6] He was principal guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1998-2001.[7]
In the United States, Wigglesworth has been a regular guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra[8] as well as working with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra, to name a few. He regularly conducts the Minnesota Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony and has an ongoing relationship with the New World Symphony Orchestra.[5]
Wigglesworth led his first opera production in 1991, conducting Cosi fan Tutte for Opera Factory in London. Wigglesworth made his first conducting appearance with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in November 2002.[9] He has also conducted at the Welsh National Opera,[10][11] the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera,[12][13] and Glyndebourne.[14] In 2005, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Le Nozze di Figaro.[5]
Wigglesworth was music director of the La Monnaie opera, Brussels, for the 2007-2008 season.
| Preceded by Tadaaki Otaka |
Music Director, BBC National Orchestra of Wales 1996–2000 |
Succeeded by Richard Hickox |