About André de Ridder

André de Ridder studied at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Royal Academy of Music in London. During his studies he was Young Associate Conductor at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 2007/2008 he became the Principal Conductor of sinfonia ViVA. He regularly appears as conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra Manchester, the Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen and Camerata Salzburg. de Ridder debuted in 2010 at the Venice Biennale and 2011 in the concert series Music-NOW hosted by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As an opera conductor de Ridder has conducted the premieres of Gerald Barry’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” at the English National Opera and at Theater Basel, Rihm’s “Drei Frauen” as well as works by Mozart, Janáček, Prokofiev and Henze. He has appeared as conductor at Teatro Real Madrid, Grange Park Opera as well as at the Salzburger Festspiele. In 2006, de Ridder was involved in performances of Fausto Romitelli’s video-opera “An Index of Metals” with Ensemble musikFabrik. 2007 saw him conduct the premiere of Damon Albarn’s and Chen Shi-Zheng’s opera “Monkey: Journey to the West” in Manchester, as well as at Theatre du Chatelet and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In 2011, the album “Plastic Beach” by the Gorillaz on which de Ridder and sinfonia ViVA appear, was nominated for a Grammy.