Karel Mark Chichon:

Hailed as one of today’s most exciting young conductors,

Karel Mark Chichon was described by the New York Times as “A conductor of genius” and continues to thrill international audiences with his temperament, passion and musicianship. He is Chief Conductor of the Graz Symphony Orchestra since 2006 and Conductor Emeritus of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2007.

He is also Principal Conductor of the European Sinfonietta and

Artistic Director of the Gibraltar Philharmonic Society.

Born in London in 1971, Chichon hails from Gibraltar.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Music (London) and was assistant conductor to Giuseppe Sinopoli and Valery Gergiev.

He has worked with artists such as José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Grace Bumbry and Juan Diego Flórez.

Chichon is a frequent guest conductor with leading Orchestras throughout the world, which include the Vienna Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Tiroler/ Innsbruck Symphony, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano & Trento, Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Halle Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony, Israel Sinfonietta, Budapest Philharmonic,

Seoul Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony.

Since 2003 he has been a regular guest conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra, with whom he tours frequently.

In 2004 he was invited by the Vienna Philharmonic to conduct concerts at their International Orchestra Institute in Salzburg and made highly successful return visits in 2005

and 2006.

The 2007-2008 season will see his debut at Vienna Musikverein with the Graz Symphony, new productions of Barbiere di Siviglia at the Vienna Volksoper and Carmen at the Latvian National Opera/Bolshoi Theatre Moscow and his debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian

National Orchestra, USB Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. He will also return to the Vienna Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony (with José Cura), English Chamber Orchestra, Tiroler/Innsbruck Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and Latvian National Symphony.