Alan Gilbert combines the role of music director at the Royal Swedish Opera with the chief conductorship of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, which he took up in autumn 2019 after eight years as music director of the New York Philharmonic. Before that (from 2000) he was chief conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm, a period which, in addition to performances in Stockholm's Concert Hall, involved several tours abroad.
Alan Gilbert was born in New York City. He studied music at, among others, the Juilliard School of Music. In 1994 he won the George Solti prize in conducting and the same year first prize at the International Competition for Musical Performance in Geneva. During the 1990s he worked, among other things, at the Santa Fe Opera and was assistant conductor at the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in the mid-1990s.
At the Royal Swedish Opera, he has conducted performances such as Die Walküre, Tosca, Elektra, Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, The Royal Swedish Opera 250 Years and Parsifal (revival 2024). In the 2024/2025 season, he conducted Wozzeck, Le nozze di Figaro and again Die Walküre, as well as two concerts with the Royal Swedish Opera, in the Gold Foyer and on the main stage. In the 2025/2026 season, Alan will again conduct Le nozze di Figaro and also the premiere of Rusalka, Die Zauberflöte, A Faust Symphony by Liszt (concert on the main stage) and the first two concerts in the Royal Swedish Orchestra's grand 500th anniversary celebrations, which will run throughout 2026.
In 2022, he was appointed Court Conductor, an honorary title awarded by HM The King at the suggestion of the Royal Swedish Opera.
