Since he left the post of music director at English National Opera in the summer of 2015, Edward Gardner’s transformation into one of our busiest and most sought-after symphonic conductors seems to have been effortlessly achieved. He’s a regular guest with the BBCSO, conducting them last night at the Barbican in a typically adventurous eastern European programme: Smetana, Janacek, Szymanowski and the UK premiere of a work by the Hungarian Peter Eotvos. He’s also principal guest conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
In late 2015, his most recent appointment led to one of my 2016 records of the year. He celebrated becoming chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, Norway’s oldest and most tradition-rich orchestra (they can claim Edvard Grieg, the country’s best-known composer,