I’m about to spend a whole month immersed in rehearsals and orchestral concerts which will take me to prestigious auditoriums and three countries which I love immensely: Austria, the Basque Country and Hungary.

Exactly twenty years after my first and only Ballo in maschera (at the Opéra de Montpellier), I’m once again taking on this enigmatic masterpiece by Verdi: opera and I have both changed considerably over the years,

My new year with opera starts on 6th January at the Teatro Real in Madrid for one of The three Queens concerts, with a programme that combines the finales of the so-called Tudor trilogy.

As your Chief Conductor, I have had the privilege in just over a year to get to know you better from an artistic and personal perspective. I am proud of what we are doing,