Pablo Heras-Casado

Born in Granada, Andalusia, in 1977, Pablo Heras-Casado initially studied art history and drama in his native city before training as a conductor in Madrid. He founded his own ensembles at the beginning of his career, including the early music formation Cappella Exaudi and the experimental group Sonóora. They represent the breadth of his repertoire, which ranges from the Renaissance to contemporary music. From 2011 to 2017, Heras-Casado was Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and since 2016 he has been Principal Guest Conductor at the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he conducted Wagner’s complete Ring. He maintains a close relationship with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, with which he has made numerous award-winning recordings. He has also worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics; the Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras; the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Since 2022, he has been closely associated with the ensemble Anima Eterna, with which he is recording Bruckner’s symphonies on original instruments. As an opera conductor, Heras-Casado has led Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the National Opera Amsterdam, and Bizet’s Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera New York. From 2021 to 2023, he conducted a Monteverdi cycle at the Vienna Staatsoper, where he most recently performed Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre last fall. He made his debut at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth in 2023 with Parsifal, and in June 2024 he will make his debut at the Opéra national de Paris with Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Musical America named him Conductor of the Year in 2014, and in 2021 he was voted Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards. Heras-Casado is an honorary citizen of Granada and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Lucerne Festival debut in the summer of 2007 as a participant in the Lucerne Festival Academy’s masterclass in conducting.

February 2024