RSNO looks to Denmark for its guest conductor

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård has been appointed the next principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

The 42-year-old from Holstebro will hold the position for an initial three years. He will begin work at the start of the 2012-13 season, leading the orchestra in three programmes a year.

He will at the same time be principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Søndergård described the appointment as “sheer serendipity”.

He said: “My introduction to the RSNO was as a short-notice substitute for the indisposed Yakov Kreizberg. But from the moment the musicians and I met, I felt a very special connection, one which the audience also seemed to pick up on.

“The sense of this was heightened when we met again last year, and I am so much looking forward to discovering what we can achieve together,” he added.

Previous RSNO principal guest conductors are Scottish conductor Garry Walker and the current Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director, Marin Alsop.

The RSNO will also have a new music director, Peter Oundjian, who takes up his post in September 2012.

RSNO chief executive Michael Elliott said: “I am immensely impressed with Thomas’s musicianship, passion and insight and his natural ability to inspire musicians and audiences.”