Over the course of a career spanning 45 years, Sir Donald Runnicles has built his reputation on enduring relationships with major symphonic and operatic institutions. Focusing on depth over breadth, he has held chief artistic leadership positions at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (since 2009), Grand Teton Music Festival (since 2005), San Francisco Opera (1992–2008), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (2009–2016), and Orchestra of St. Luke’s (2001–2007). Sir Donald was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than two decades (2001–2023), and he is the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (since 2019). In February 2024, Runnicles was appointed as Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, which begun with the 2025/26 season.

Known as a consummate Wagnerian and conductor of German Romantic repertoire, Runnicles leads Deutsche Oper Berlin this season in a new production of the Richard Strauss rarity, Intermezzo, directed by Tobias Kratzer, as well as revival performances of Parsifal and two full cycles of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen. At the Metropolitan Opera, he conducted eight performances of the Otto Schenk production of Tannhäuser. Other 2023/24 appearances include the Dresden Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and Utah Symphony, where he led the world premiere of a new concerto written and performed by Sir Stephen Hough.

Runnicles spends his summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. This eight-week festival of symphonic and chamber music, five of which are programmed, planned, and conducted by Runnicles as music director, takes place amid the breathtaking beauty of Grand Teton National Park. Summer 2024 GTMF festival highlights included a semi-staged The Magic Flute, concerts with Augustin Hadelich and Yo-Yo Ma, and two fifth symphonies by Mahler and Vaughan Williams.

Runnicles’ 2024/25 season opened with a 70th birthday celebratory concert closing the Edinburgh Festival with Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, after which he opened the Dresden Philharmonic season and then continued to Berlin for a concert with the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchester as part of the Berlin Festival. Runnicles’ 2024/25 Deutsche Oper Berlin season included a new production of Richard Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten and revivals of the Zemlinsky one-act opera Der Zwerg (The Dwarf), Arabella, Intermezzo, Tristan und Isolde, and Verdi’s Don Carlo. He returned twice to Sydney Symphony over the course of the season and made guest appearances in Chicago, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Cincinnati.

Runnicles tours regularly with Deutsche Oper Berlin to destinations such as the Edinburgh International Festival, the London Proms, Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, and Dubai. He has joined the Philadelphia Orchestra on tours to China, summer residencies at Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado, and annual subscription concerts. A frequent guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony, Runnicles’ performance history dates back to 1997. Over a decade-long relationship with the Vienna State Opera, he led new productions of Parsifal, Britten’s Billy Budd, and Peter Grimes, as well as core repertoire pieces.

Runnicles’ extensive discography includes recordings of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s Billy Budd, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Aribert Reimann's L’invisible. His recording of Wagner arias with Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin won the 2013 Gramophone Award for Best Vocal Recording, and his recording of Janáček’s Jenůfa with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin was nominated for a 2016 GRAMMY award for Best Opera Recording.

Sir Donald Runnicles was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was appointed OBE in 2004, and was made a Knight Bachelor in 2020. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Chinese soprano Ying Fang has been praised as ‘indispensable at the Met in Mozart’ (The New York Times) and for ‘a voice that can stop time, pure and rich and open and consummately expressive’ (Financial Times). This season, Ms. Fang makes her role debut as the title role in a new production of Handel’s Theodora at Grand Théâtre de Genève and returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier as well as Lyric Opera of Chicago as Norina in Don Pasquale. She continues her illustrious concert career in performances with NHK Symphony conducted by Fabio Luisi, Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Last season, Ms. Fang made her house debut at Houston Grand Opera in the US premiere of Robert Wilson’s staged version of Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s celebrated Messiah, conducted by Patrick Summers, and sang Ilia in Idomeneo with Wiener Staatsoper. In the US, she joined the San Francisco Symphony and Manfred Honeck for Mozart’s Requiem alongside mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin for Mahler’s Symphony No.2 in both Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall. She also recorded Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the Pittsburgh Symphony with Honeck, and joined the Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy for an all-Mozart concert, which was released by Chandos Records as the first of four all-Mozart discs. Further highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Andris Nelsons, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Pamina in Simon McBurney’s production of Die Zauberflöte under conductor Raphaël Pichon, and Baden-Baden Festival where she joined Yannick Nézet-Séguin for performances of Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem and a lieder recital. She also appeared at the Verbier Festival in Bach’s Mass in B minor and made her role debut as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role. At the Salzburg Festival, she joined Riccardo Muti in Bruckner’s Mass No.3 in F minor.

In recent seasons, Ying made her house debut at the Royal Opera Covent Garden as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in a production by Sir David McVicar, followed by a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the same role. She debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and made her role debut as Marzelline in Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera opposite Lise Davidsen, conducted by Susanna Mälkki and broadcasted as part of The Met Live in HD series. She also sang Ilia in Idomeneo in her house debut at San Francisco Opera. On the concert stage, she joined the Sydney Symphony and Sir Donald Runnicles for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Lieder of Richard Strauss, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons as Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal and Yannick Nézet-Séguin for her first Beethoven 9, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Raphaël Pichon at Carnegie Hall for a program of Schubert, Schumann and Weber. She toured with Ensemble Pygmalion and Pichon, bringing Bach’s St. John Passion to venues including Teatro alla Scala, Notre-Dame de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. She toured with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, bringing Mahler’s Fourth Symphony to the Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Dresden Kulturpalast and Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp.

Ms. Fang has performed with conductors James Levine, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Raphaël Pichon, Carlo Rizzi, Alan Gilbert, James Gaffigan, Gianandrea Noseda, Emmanuelle Haïm, Nathalie Stutzmann, Manfred Honeck, Philippe Jordan, Robin Ticciati and Sir Donald Runnicles. She has sung at the Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Santa Fe Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra de Lille, Dutch National Opera, Vancouver Opera, Opera Philadelphia and Washington National Opera in such varied operas as Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna), L’elisir d’amore (Adina), Alcina (Morgana), Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Bellezza), Tannhäuser (Shepherd), Falstaff (Nannetta), Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra), Il Viaggio A Reims (Contessa di Folleville), Zaïde (title role), The Nose (Madame Podtochina’s Daughter) and Don Giovanni (Zerlina). Concert engagements have included appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, New World Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and Music of the Baroque Orchestra in works such as Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4, Handel’s Messiah, Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts, Handel’s Silete Venti, Bernstein’s West Side Story and more. Ms. Fang has given performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall, as well as with the Verbier Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Ravinia Festival, and has appeared in recital at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, Cal Performances and The Dallas Opera.

A native of Ningbo, China, Ms. Fang is the recipient of the Martin E Segal Award, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, the Rose Bampton Award of The Sullivan Foundation, The Opera Index Award and First Prize of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2009, she became one of the youngest singers to win one of China’s most prestigious awards – the China Golden Bell Award for Music. She has been hailed as ‘the most gifted Chinese soprano of her generation’ by Ningbo Daily. Ms. Fang holds a Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma in Opera Study from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She is a former member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.