Ed Spanjaard studied piano and conducting in Amsterdam and London, and started his career as répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Since then the many operas he has conducted include new productions of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen (Dutch Touring Opera), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (Lyon) and several chamber operas by Guo Wenjing (premières at Holland Festival, Paris, Frankfurt).
His long and successful conductorship of the Nieuw Ensemble has resulted in numerous premières and tours, including visits to festivals in Edinburgh, Berlin, Venice and Shanghai. Together they have collaborated with composers including Boulez, Carter, Harvey, Ferneyhough and Donatoni. In 2002 he conducted the Atlas Ensemble’s début at the Berliner Festspiele. Spanjaard acquired a large orchestral repertoire during his years as chief conductor of the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestras he has conducted include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Hague Philharmonic, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Modern. As a pianist he has accompanied singers including Elly Ameling and Frederica von Stade.
Since 2012 Ed Spanjaard has been professor of orchestral conducting at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and since 2017 he has been chief conductor of the Orkest van het Oosten (Enschede) in the Netherlands.
For more information, please visit Ed Spanjaard's website.
