Finnegan Downie Dear
Sydney Symphony Orchestra / Ravel - Brahms
An emerging conductor of acute musical discernement… Downie Dear led with exacting attention to balance and detail, creating tension and expectancy… An utterly absorbing experience.
Sydney Morning Herald (03/07/2025)
Hamburgische Staatsoper - Falstaff
Conductor Finnegan Downie Dear has a rock solid hold on what comes out of the pit, and the orchestra play for him with razor sharp precision and a joy in the ensemble.
Seen and Heard International ( April 7, 2025)Representation
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SVENSKA KAMMARORKESTERN
Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 5 in D major
Oct 7
CAMERATA SALZBURG
Bartók – Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major
Kurtág – Ligeti évszázada – Kalandozás a múltban, Op. 48
Haydn – Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major (“Drumroll”)
Oct 16/18 (Salzburg)
Bartók – Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major
Liszt – “Angelus! Prière aux anges gardiens”, p. 378
Haydn – Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major (“Drumroll”)
Oct 20/21 (Vienna)
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NORWEGIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA
William Marsey: Man with Limp Wrist
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Sep 9CAMERATA SALZBURG
Rossini – Overture to The Barber of Siviglia
Mendelssohn – Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra No. 1 in E major, MWV O 6 with Lucas Jussen and Arthur Jussen
Schubert – Symphony No. 6 in C major (“Little C major Symphony”)
Sep 17 (Merano), 18 (Trieste), 20 (Locarno)VÄSTERÅS SINFONIETTA
Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Britten – Double Concerto with Cecilia Zilliacus and Ylvali Zilliacus
Haydn – Symphony No. 103
Sep 24Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Haydn – Symphony No. 103
Sep 26SVENSKA KAMMARORKESTERN
Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 5 in D major
Oct 7CAMERATA SALZBURG
Bartók – Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major
Kurtág – Ligeti évszázada – Kalandozás a múltban, Op. 48
Haydn – Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major (“Drumroll”)
Oct 16/18 (Salzburg)Bartók – Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major
Liszt – “Angelus! Prière aux anges gardiens”, p. 378
Haydn – Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major (“Drumroll”)
Oct 20/21 (Vienna)OPERA AUSTRALIA
Puccini – La Bohème
Nov 7/8/10/11/12/13/14/15/17/18OPÉRA NATIONAL DE PARIS
Mozart – Don Giovanni
Jan 28, Feb 2/4/7/10/13/16/19/23/26SEMPEROPER DRESDEN
Beethoven – Fidelio
Apr 3/10/18/23, May 2NFM WROCŁAW PHILHARMONIC
Sibelius Symphony No. 7 in C major op. 105
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 op. 19
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67
Apr 9THE SIÈCLES
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Op. 67
Symphony No. 7 Op. 92
Apr 28 (Paris TCE)TEATRO MALIBRAN
Prokofiev – Classical Symphony
Strauss – Oboe Concerto
Schubert – Symphony No. 5
May 21/22ATHENS STATE ORCHESTRA
Prokofiev – Symphonia Concertante for Cello, Op. 125 with Timos Petren
Schoenberg – Pelleas and Melisande
May 28
Biography
British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear has established an international presence through his work across both symphonic and operatic repertoire, developing close relationships with leading orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe and beyond.
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Highlights of Finnegan Downie Dear’s 2026/27 season include his debut at the Opéra national de Paris, where he conducts a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Following his subscription debut with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden last season, he returns to Dresden to make his Semperoper debut with Beethoven’s Fidelio as part of the Beethoven 200 celebrations. He also returns to Australia to make his Opera Australia debut with a new production of Puccini’s La bohème.
On the concert platform, Downie Dear returns to Camerata Salzburg for two concert tours, as well as to regular partners including the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and Athens State Orchestra. He also makes his debuts with Les Siècles at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in an all-Beethoven programme and with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice.
Downie Dear is a regular guest at the Berlin State Opera, where he has conducted productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Věc Makropulos and The Turn of the Screw. He has also led numerous concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin, in repertoire ranging from Schubert and Ravel to Kurtág, Benjamin and Abrahamsen.
Recent symphonic highlights include an all-Beethoven programme with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble on tour to Baden-Baden and the Elbphilharmonie, returns to the Bremer Philharmoniker and Kammerakademie Potsdam, and debuts with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. He has previously conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the DSO Berlin, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where he will return later in 2027. Among the soloists he has worked with are Kirill Gerstein, Mikhail Pletnev, Paul Lewis, Steven Osborne, Gil Shaham, Isabelle Faust, Veronika Eberle, James Ehnes and Gautier Capuçon.
His recent opera engagements include appearances with The Royal Ballet and Opera (Die Zauberflöte, Alice’s Adventures Underground), Staatsoper Hamburg (Eugene Onegin, Falstaff), Opéra de Lyon (Billy Budd), Theater an der Wien (Miroslav Srnka’s Voice Killer), Korean National Opera (Hänsel und Gretel) and Polish National Opera (Die tote Stadt). In 2026, he led the Philharmonia Orchestra at Garsington Opera in Der Rosenkavalier. Previous festival appearances include the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he conducted Oliver Leith’s acclaimed The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor, as well as the Salzburg Easter Festival and Tokyo Spring Festival.
Finnegan Downie Dear is the Artistic Director of Shadwell Opera, a London-based opera company dedicated to contemporary British repertoire and experimental operatic forms. Their production of Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are toured the Mariinsky Theatre in 2019 and Bamberg in 2022, the latter in partnership with the Bamberg Symphony. In 2025 they gave the debut of Isabella Gellis' The Devil’s Den in collaboration with Opera North; in 2027 they will present their next commission in partnership with the Britten Pears Foundation at Snape Maltings.
Born in London, Downie Dear graduated with distinction in musicology from the University of Cambridge and in piano from the Royal Academy of Music. He came to international attention in 2020 when he was awarded First Prize at the International Mahler Competition of the Bamberger Symphoniker.
2026/27
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