Stéphane Denève is Chief Conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and the former Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). Recognised internationally for the exceptional quality of his performances and programming, he regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s leading orchestras and soloists. Recent engagements include his Carnegie Hall debut with Boston Symphony, and appearances with Chicago Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, NDR Symphony Hamburg and Swedish Radio Symphony.  With the RSNO he has performed at Europe’s most prestigious festivals and venues including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival Présences, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Théatre des Champs-Elysées. Highlights of the current season include major tours of Europe and Asia – including two concerts at Suntory Hall – with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR); his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Les contes d’Hoffmann for the Gran Teatre del Liceu; and return visits to the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New

read more...

"It might seem reductive to limit a musician to national specialities, but having heard Denève’s Berlioz, Debussy and Roussel in concert, his captivating disc of Poulenc with the Stuttgart orchestra he commands and now his Ravel, I can honestly say there’s no conductor alive I’d rather hear in French music."

TheArtsDesk.com Apr 27th 2013

"With the right conductor, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is as good as the world’s best orchestras… They handed an enraptured audience the proof at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday night with the help of guest French conductor Stéphane Denève...Denève managed to saturate the already colourful and theatrical music with even more colour and imbue it with a master storyteller’s sense of spontaneity...In a mark of a great conductor, he had an iron grip on both aspects of this piece. The biggest revelation of all was how Denève managed to make the work sound fresh and in the moment. Throughout, he emphasized much detail in an overwrought score without ever losing momentum or musical meaning. It’s hard to imagine hearing this piece, or any of the others on this program, played any better. "

The Star, Toronto May 1st 2013

"A faultless performance for the conductor Stéphane Denève whose work with French music continues to yield fruit with an album of Poulenc, performed by SWR Stuttgart"

Diapason May 1st 2013

"Poulenc’s effervescent score has rarely sparkled as much as it does here. Stéphane Denève’s wind players are suitably cheeky, and the trumpets are magnificent – sample the languid solos in the bittersweet Adagietto….Such a potent work; Denève’s performance will leave even atheists and agnostics rheumy-eyed."

TheArtsDesk.com Jun 15th 2013

"Stéphane Denève.. struck sparks with the [Chicago Symphony] orchestra in a deftly balanced French and Russian program. Denève...clearly knows what he wants in his performances and has the intelligence, podium skill, and engaging personality to obtain it. "

Chicago Classical Review Nov 11th 2011

"The ebullient Stéphane Denève turned out to be what was needed...Denève tapped into the minute details of Debussy's sprawling orchestral descriptions of Spain, Scotland... giving the music an almost 3D physicality, though not with the usual soft-focus Impressionist lens. Strings had a raw edge; this music isn't merely pretty."

The Philadelphia Inquirer Nov 26th 2012

"Denève handles [the Spider's Banquet] with great subtlety and refinement, the woodwind detail crisply defined against the veils of strings. It's paired with the two short orchestral suites Roussel extracted from his only full-length stage work, the opera-ballet Padmâvatî…In performance, the complete work is problematic, but the dance interludes are arguably its best moments, and Denève and his orchestra present them very convincingly."

The Guardian Jan 12th 2012

"Under his baton, the [New World Symphony] Orchestra gave a richly colored, brilliantly played performance. The quick running melody of the Waltz was pulsing and dramatic under Denève’s baton, as he made the melody slow and accelerate in a way that suggested the growing passion of the dancers. "

South Florida Classical Review Nov 11th 2012

"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut of the gifted French conductor Stephane Deneve... showed what can be achieved when forces of nature come together. Throughout the concert you were aware of an artist of vigorous command and probing insight, challenging the players to take risks and to dig as deeply into the music as possible. Conductors of this quality don't come along very often, and, when they do, attention must be paid and admiration extended. Deneve is a kinetic presence on the podium, very articulate in his gestures and body language, in a way that pulls detail from the music without marring the integrity of the whole. He has a way of galvanizing orchestral musicians, as if invisible arcs of electricity were emanating from his fingertips.."

Chicago Tribune Nov 11th 2011

"The French conductor Stéphane Denève made thrilling debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Thursday night Throughout the suite, Denève conducted with a precision and clarity that lent the music not only freshness but also a seeming weightlessness "

Chicago on the Aisle.com Nov 11th 2011

"This is sensualism of the highest finesse. Stephane Deneve dabs Ravel’s fairytale pictures “Ma mere l’oye” to the the limit of fragility, elegant and full of... transparency. Like a good painter Deneve knows how to increase the magnificence of colors, by setting them clearly against each other and makes their mixture understandable."

Sueddeutsche Zeitung Mar 14th 2011

"Enter Stephane Deneve, an excitable French conductor stepping in to replace Sir Colin Davis in this week’s BSO concerts. And so it came across in the charged and characterful account he led from memory, drawing out the modern rhythmic energy and compressed power of the first movement, the protean charms of the adagio, the featherweight frivolity of its third movement marked vivace, and the playful seriousness of the score’s final pages. It was a pleasure to have it delivered with such impassioned advocacy"

The Boston Globe Apr 15th 2011

"Stephane Deneve, one of the ensemble’s most impressive guest conductors in recent seasons, returned to lead a concert that mixed familiar chestnuts with a rarely heard dance score and a gleaming contemporary sound portrait of the cosmos. This gifted French conductor brings Gallic lightness and transparency of texture to the music of his countrymen, igniting strongly placed instrumental timbres that surprise the ear and senses, even in the most familiar scores. Deneve possesses the podium mastery of Pierre Boulez without that conductor’s intellectual chilliness"

South Florida Classical Review Apr 10th 2011

"The performances, which featured much-loved repeat French visitors, conductor Stéphane Denève and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, were nothing short of fantastic.The ensemble was technically sharp, finely balanced and intensely responsive to the wishes of its leader. Denève shone golden light through some pretty dense orchestrations, while giving the musical narrative compelling shapes and textures. "

The Star Mar 30th 2011

"Denève conducted a vivid performance of Ravel’s La valse, paced to perfection."

Classical Source Feb 23rd 2011

"Deneve is elegant in gesture, avoids “dances on the stand” and is mostly disciplined and striking He succeeded the most in Ravel with a vital telling gestus: subtle play of the sound colours and rhythmic conciseness of the Danse general. He opened the dynamic widely and allowed the musicians space. The audience reacted with cheering. "

Stuttgarter Nachrichten Sep 23rd 2011

"[Eric Le Sage] and Denève, one of the best of the guests, seemed to be in perfect sympathy with one another. The orchestra was entirely together here, for a noteworthy performance"

STL Today Nov 5th 2011

"Stéphane Denève's Roussel cycle for Naxos easily has been the finest ever recorded, and this concluding disc fully lives up to expectations."

Classics Today Mar 23rd 2010

"[The second half] comprised a burnished and splendidly thought-out rendering of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. This magnificent work got the warm sound it needed, but more than this. A nondemonstrative Frenchman, Denève regulated the sweep to climaxes with sense as well as affection. His dignified interpretation placed the work in the front ranks, where it belongs."

The Ampersand Oct 22nd 2011