Who is conductor Thomas Søndergård?
Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is music director of the Minnesota Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and was music director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2012‑18. He was a percussionist in the Royal Danish Orchestra, starting his conducting career with the premiere of Poul Ruders’s opera Kafka’s Trial, which opened the new Royal Danish Opera building.
Thomas Søndergård: on his first music lessons
I started my musical career in the percussion section of a marching band in my hometown, Holstebro, where we had a very passionate teacher. He and my parents encouraged me to go to a music school. At that time Stevie Wondermade an incredible impression on me – his tunes, harmony, melody and, not least, groove. And his lyrics really hit home with me as an adolescent first encountering love, parties and friendships. I played his music with friends in a marimba band – maybe not the ideal instrument, but doing it collectively as a band, you learn how it knits together, how harmonies work, all without sitting down to learn. I still listen to Stevie Wonder and find that most artists today come nowhere near his quality.
Danish schools give 10 and 11 year-olds a week off for careers experience. Other students might have done a week in a dental surgery or on a farm, but I chose to go to the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. During that week I saw stage rehearsals for Richard Strauss’s Elektra and Delibes’s Coppélia – and if there was anything that changed my life it was these two works, which couldn’t be further from each other! I was drawn into the story of Elektra, and I loved every minute of it.
When I got home, I studied the score from the library, but I was disappointed listening to the recording. The music on its own was too hardcore and I realised how attached the music was to the stage. I conducted Elektra last year and I had to smile at the memory of me at 11; now I can see why I didn’t understand it. But that experience convinced me that I wanted to be an orchestral musician.
Thomas Søndergård: on giving up being a percussionist to become a conductor
I came to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 1987, and there I saw a poster advertising auditions for the European Community Youth Orchestra. That same week I saw a VHS of Claudio Abbado conducting the ECYO with soprano Jessye Norman and it captured me. I decided to audition for the ECYO and was so lucky to be chosen. In the two or three years I played percussion with them, we had some amazing conductors – Giulini, Mehta, Rostropovich, and on my last tour in 1992, Bernard Haitink. We played Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and I still have the score with the notes I took at the time. I sat in the auditorium to watch Haitink rehearsing and wrote down everything he said, including the bowings. The conducting seed was planted.
I was a percussionist with the Royal Danish Orchestra for over a decade, and during that time I started conducting my colleagues in ensembles. When the new opera house was due to open, I was asked to assist Michael Schønwandt on the new Poul Ruders opera Kafka’s Trial. It was thrilling because within a few weeks Schønwandt said he wanted me to do the whole production. Several major managers came over to see it and that was the starting point for a real conducting career.
Thomas Søndergård: on his early conducting success
I had to make some hard choices because I had a job with a pension, great colleagues, wonderful music-making in my own city, but the opera started hiring me regularly, among other European engagements. I was asked to assist Thomas Adès on his new opera The Tempest and I immediately agreed. I’d heard so much about Tom and I was excited by the score – the warmth and insight in his music, his brilliant mind. It was thrilling to meet the artist who created this amazing opera and to get close to him – me conducting, him at the piano.
My first meeting with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was in 2009, when I conducted them in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11. From the first downbeat I had a strong feeling that this was more than just a one-week visit. And I have worked with them ever since as principal guest conductor and then music director. The same experience happened in Minnesota, when we first played Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben in 2021 and I was asked to be their music director in 2023.
