David Afkham

David Afkham (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 1983)[1][2] is a German conductor.

Biography

Afkham was born in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) in 1983[3] and started his music education at age 15 at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where he studied piano with James Avery.[4] In 2002 he won the Jugend Musiziert competition. In 2007 he finished his conducting studies with Nicolás Pasquet at the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt" in Weimar.[5]

In 2008 Afkham won the first prize of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition[6] and became the assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra,[7][8] assisting Valery Gergiev. Since 2010 he is also the assistant conductor of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.[2]

He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Chicago Civic Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Bamberg Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Weimar,[1][5] as well as assistant to Bernard Haitink with the Royal Concertgebouw and Chicago Symphony orchestras,[2][7] assistant guest conductor of the Baden-Wurttemberg Youth Orchestra, and principal conductor of the KHG-Symphony-Orchestra Freiburg.[9]

He is a conducting fellow of the Richard Wagner Association in Bayreuth, Germany.[4]

In 2014 he will be the main conductor of the Orquesta Nacional de España (ONE)

He is the brother of Micha Afkham, violist with the Berlin Philharmonic.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Askonas Holt. "David Afkham.". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. "David Afkham appointed as new assistant conductor of the GUSTAV MAHLER JUGENDORCHESTER". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  3. ↑ Music and vision. "Afkham, David". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. "David Afkham, Gulbenkian". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". "David Afkham". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  6. ↑ "David Afkham wins Donatella Flick competition". Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Karen Wada (April 30, 2009). "Dudamels in the making? L.A. Phil names conducting fellows". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  8. ↑ "David Afkham gewinnt den Donatella-Flick-Dirigierwettbewerb in London". Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  9. ↑ Studenten-Sinfonie-Orchester der KHG Freiburg im Breisgau. "David Afkham". Retrieved 31 March 2010.