Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider became the seventh music director of the Orchestre national de Lyon (ONL) in September 2020: a landmark in a prominent international career that in recent years has seen the violinist also take on the role of conductor.

After an initial successful collaboration in the 2019/2020 season’s opening concert and on a tour of the major Russian concert halls, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider became the ONL’s music director for the 2020/2021 season. This appointment consolidates a career as conductor that, in recent years, has steadily gained momentum. Over and above the close ties he has forged with the London Symphony Orchestra, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is now a regular guest of the world’s most prestigious orchestras. Recent and forthcoming performances include concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Stockholm, Brussels and Oslo. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is also building a solid reputation in opera. After his brilliant debut conducting Die Zauberflöte at the Semperoper Dresden, he was immediately invited back to conduct Der Rosenkavalier in autumn 2019. In 2020/2021, he makes his debut at the Royal Danish Opera conducting a new production of Die Zauberflöte.

Recognised as one of the world’s most accomplished violinists, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider maintains a busy performance schedule as soloist and recitalist. During the 2018/2019 season, he was artist-in-residence with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, either playing violin or conducting in a variety of projects, including his conducting debut at the Musikverein in Mahler’s First Symphony. He plays a 1741 Guarneri del Gesù violin that once belonged to the famous violinist Fritz Kreisler, entrusted to him on a long-term loan from the Royal Danish Theatre, generously funded by the Velux Foundations, the Villum Fonden and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.