Thomas Søndergård

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Thomas Søndergård (born 4 October 1969) is a Danish conductor and percussionist. He studied percussion at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1989 to 1992 and played with the European Union Youth Orchestra. In 1992 he joined the Royal Danish Orchestra as a percussionist and later taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 2001 to 2002. He began focusing on conducting in his late 20s. His conducting debut at the Royal Danish Opera was in 2005 with Poul Ruders’s Kafka's Trial, after which he joined the Askonas Holt management.

In 2009 he became principal conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK), a post he left after the 2011–2012 season. He first conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in December 2009 as an emergency substitute. In July 2011 he was named the 14th principal conductor of the BBC NOW, starting in the 2012–2013 season with a four-year contract, which was later extended to at least 2018. He concluded his BBC NOW tenure in July 2018.

Søndergård first guest-conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) in 2009 as an emergency substitute. In October 2011 RSNO named him principal guest conductor for the 2012–2013 season. In May 2017 RSNO announced him as its next principal conductor, starting in the 2018–2019 season. In February 2021 they extended his contract as music director through autumn 2024, and in April 2023 extended it again through the 2024–2025 season.

He first guest-conducted the Minnesota Orchestra in December 2021 and again in April 2022. In July 2022 the orchestra announced him as its music director, starting with the 2023–2024 season, for five seasons. Søndergård has made multiple recordings for the Linn and DaCapo labels, including works by Bent Lorentzen, Per Nørgård and Poul Ruders. In July 2022 he married his longtime partner, the Swedish baritone Andreas Landin.