The musical director

Marta Gardolińska – Musical Director

Marta Gardolińska is currently Music Director of the Opéra national de Lorraine and Principal Guest Conductor of Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona. She came to international attention in 2018 as Young Conductor in Association at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra where she conducted two highly successful subscription concerts. This led to a Dudamel Fellowship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the 2019-2020 season which included an invitation to be second conductor to Gustavo Dudamel for their Grammy award-winning live Deutsche Grammophon recording of Ives Symphony No. 4. Marta then returned to Los Angeles to make her debut with the Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl followed by an immediate re-invitation.

The 2024-2025 season sees Marta return to the Swedish Radio Symphony and make her debuts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Toronto Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and join the Stavanger Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, RAI Torino Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra. Marta will also see her conduct Eugene Onegin at the Opéra national de Lorraine.

The 2023-2024 season Marta made her debuts with the BBC Scottish Symphony and hr-Sinfonieorchester. Marta also returned to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife after opening their 2022-2023 season and conducted performances of Haydn’s The Creation with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona.

Recent highlights have included debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Chambre de Paris, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Along with her work as a symphonic conductor, she is also active in the field of opera. During the 2020-2021 season she made her hugely successful French debut with Opéra national de Lorraine conducting a new production of Zemlinsky’s Der Traumgörge and the 2021-2022 season saw acclaimed productions of Messager’s Fortunio in Nancy and her debut at Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg conducting Carmen with Stéphanie d'Oustrac. During the 2022-2023 season she conducted a much-anticipated new production of Manru by Paderewski and a revival of La Traviata in Lorraine. Between 2013-2015 she served as the second conductor with the company Johann–Strauss–Operette Wien, learning the purest style of the Viennese musical tradition. Marta studied conducting at the Frederic Chopin Music University of Warsaw, the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2016, Marta was awarded the title “Outstanding Pole in Austria” for her efforts in popularizing Polish culture and music outside of the country.