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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Season 2026/2027
NORWEGIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA
William Marsey: Man with Limp Wrist
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Sep 9
CAMERATA 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)
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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 19 (Budapest), 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 the 2026/27 season include major operatic debuts at the Opéra national de Paris, where he conducts a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni staged by Louisa Proske, and at the Semperoper Dresden with Beethoven’s Fidelio. He also returns to Opera Australia for Puccini’s La bohème. Symphonic highlights include return engagements with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg for two concert tours, Västerås Sinfonietta, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and the Athens State Orchestra. He also makes concert debuts with Les Siècles at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice.
Downie Dear is a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, where he most recently conducted productions of Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw. At the Staatsoper, he has previously conducted productions of Věc Makropulos and Le nozze di Figaro, as well as numerous concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin, in repertoire ranging from Schubert and Ravel to Kurtág, Benjamin, and Abrahamsen.
Recent orchestral highlights include a return to the Staatskapelle Dresden for subscription concerts following his debut with the orchestra, alongside return engagements with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Athens State Orchestra, and debuts with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Enescu Philharmonic and the orchestra of Welsh National Opera. He has also toured with the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra to Baden-Baden and the Elbphilharmonie, and led concerts with the London Philharmonic, The Hallé, Gothenburg Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Bochum Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, DSO Berlin, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Soloists with whom he has collaborated include Kirill Gerstein, Mikhail Pletnev, Paul Lewis, Steven Osborne, Gil Shaham, Isabelle Faust, Veronika Eberle, James Ehnes, and Gautier Capuçon.
Some of his recent operatic appearances include debuts at Opéra de Lyon (Billy Budd) and Garsington Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), and a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for Die Zauberflöte, where he has also conducted Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Further engagements include the Staatsoper Hamburg (Eugen Onegin, Falstaff), Theater an der Wien (Voice Killer by Miroslav Srnka), Korean National Opera (Hänsel und Gretel), Polish National Opera (Die tote Stadt), and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, in Oliver Leith’s acclaimed reimagining of Billy Budd. He has also performed at the Salzburg Osterfestspiele and the Tokyo Spring Festival.
Downie Dear is Artistic Director of Shadwell Opera — a London-based company committed to contemporary British repertoire and experimental operatic forms. Their production of Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are toured to the Mariinsky Theatre in 2019 and to Bamberg in 2022, the latter in partnership with the Bamberger Symphoniker. In summer 2024, the company gave the world premiere of The Devil’s Den by Isabella Gellis at the Nevill Holt Festival, and Downie Dear brought the piece to Opera North in a new production in November 2025.
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 unanimously awarded First Prize at the International Mahler Competition of the Bamberger Symphoniker.
2026/27
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