Finnegan Downie Dear
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Beethoven 6
Downie Dear and the CBSO's control and precision were remarkable, particularly in the quieter passages. His interpretation was ravishingly beautiful, filled with emotional depth and a compelling sense of structure.
Bachtrack (07.10.2021)
Hamburg State Opera - 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 25/26 and Highlights
GÜRZENICH ORCHESTRA
Voice of Opera
Sep 21
Welsh National Opera
A Night at the Opera
Sep 26, Oct 1/9/16
SEMPEROPER DRESDEN
DRESDEN STATE ORCHESTRA
Oct 12/13/14
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ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN
Magic Flute
Oct 23/28/30, Nov 1/3KAMMERAKADEMIE POTSDAM Strauss - String Sextet for the Opera “Capriccio”
Berg - Chamber Concerto op. 8
van Beethoven - Suite from “The Creatures of Prometheus” op. 43 (selection)
Nov 8BALTHASAR-NEUMANN ORCHESTRA
Beethoven at his Best
van Beethoven - Overture “To the Naming Party”
van Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D major
van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 A major
Nov 21 Baden-Baden
Nov 34 ElbphilharmonieATHENS STATE ORCHESTRA
Beethoven's Triple Concerto
van Beethoven - Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major, op. 56
Janacek - Taras Bulba, rhapsody for orchestra
Ravel - La Valse
Dec 5BREMEN PHILHARMONIC
Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin – Suite d'Orchestre
Brahms - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
Elgar - Enigma Variations
Dec 14/15ENESCU PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Enescu - Rhapsody No. 2, in D major, Op. 11
Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Strauss - Rosenkavalier Suite
Ravel - La Valse
Jan 15STATE OPERA UNTER DEN LINDEN
Mozart - Don Giovanni
Feb 6/17/19/21/25SWEDISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Ravel - Ma Mere l' Oye
Poulenc - The Human Voice
Mar 5LYON OPERA
Billy Budd
Mar 21/23/27/29/31, Apr 2/4STATE OPERA UNTER DEN LINDEN
Turn of the Screw
Apr 10/12/18/21OPERA FESTIVAL GARSINGTON OPERA
The Rosenkavalier
May 28/30, Jun 5/14/16/19/25/27/29
Biography
British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear has established a growing global presence through his work in the symphonic repertoire and on international opera stages. He maintains close relationships with leading orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe and beyond.
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In the 2025/26 season, Downie Dear returns to the Staatskapelle Dresden for subscription concerts, following his debut there the previous year. He will also conduct the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, and the Greek State Orchestra of Athens once again. Important debuts will take him to the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Enescu Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. In addition, he will lead a tour with the Balthasar-Neumann-Orchester to Baden-Baden and the Elbphilharmonie. Highlights in the field of opera include debuts at the Opéra de Lyon (Billy Budd) and at the Garsington Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), as well as a return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Die Zauberflöte).
Downie Dear is a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, where he will conduct productions of Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw in the 2025/26 season. He previously conducted performances of Věc Makropulos and Le nozze di Figaro there, as well as numerous concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin – with a repertoire ranging from Schubert and Ravel to Kurtág, Benjamin, and Abrahamsen.
In recent seasons, he has appeared on the podium of numerous renowned orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the DSO Berlin, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the 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.
He has recently conducted operas at the Staatsoper Hamburg (Eugene Onegin, Falstaff), at the Theater an der Wien (Voice Killer by Miroslav Srnka), at the Royal Opera House (Alice’s Adventures Under Ground by Gerald Barry), at the Korean National Opera (Hänsel und Gretel), at the Polish National Opera (Die tote Stadt), and at the Festival in Aix-en-Provence, where he conducted Oliver Leith's celebrated new interpretation of Billy Budd. He has also appeared at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Tokyo Spring Festival.
Finnegan Downie Dear is Artistic Director of Shadwell Opera, a London-based opera ensemble dedicated to contemporary British repertoire and experimental forms of opera. Their production of Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are was shown at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2019 and in Bamberg in 2022 – the latter in partnership with the Bamberger Symphoniker. In the summer of 2024, the ensemble premiered Isabella Gellis' work The Devil’s Den at the Nevill Holt Festival. In November 2025, Downie Dear will bring this work to Opera North in a new production.
Born in London, Downie Dear graduated with honors in Music from the University of Cambridge (Musicology) and also studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He gained international attention in 2020 when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the International Mahler Conducting Competition of the Bamberger Symphoniker.
2025/26
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