Stanislav Kochanovsky leads the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover on a five-concert UK tour (12-16 October 2026) and in special projects in the orchestra’s home city
Conductor’s guest appearances include high-profile debuts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (8 November 2026) and
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (12 February 2027)
Kochanovsky makes his twelfth return to the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for a three-concert Rachmaninov Festival in Rome and subsequent tour to Verona, Rimini and Bratislava
‘…one of the most fascinating conductors in the music world today.’ Seen and Heard International
‘Kochanovsky drove the orchestra to extraordinary heights,’ Hamburger Abendblatt
Stanislav Kochanovsky has won countless admirers worldwide with performances distinguished by their revelatory insights, tonal refinement and expressive eloquence. The depth and quality of his interpretations are certain to be evident in his work throughout the 2026-27 season, his last as Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, and in a host of significant debut and return performances as guest conductor. British audiences have the chance to experience the compelling nature of Kochanovsky’s artistry when he leads his Hannover band on a five-concert tour to England this autumn. He is likewise set to enhance his international reputation with debut performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and a landmark Rachmaninov Festival with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Kochanovsky’s final season with the NDR Radiophilharmonie opens with two concerts at Hannover’s Konzerthaus (Thursday 10 & Friday 11 September 2026). The programme comprises Dvořák’s concert overture Carnival, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1, with Nikolai Lugansky as soloist, and Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben. Lugansky will take centre stage in three performances of the same work when the NDR Radiophilharmonie return to Britain for the first time since 2019. In a five-concert tour (12–16 October 2026) Kochanovsky and his orchestra will perform in Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, London and Basingstoke. Repertoire includes Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Piano Concerto No.4 (with soloist Ingrid Fliter), Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1 (with Nikolai Lugansky), Prokofiev’s Symphony No.1 ‘Classical’ and Brahms’s Symphonies Nos.2 & 4.
“I have done many wonderful projects with the NDR Radiophilharmonie,” says Stanislav Kochanovsky. “I am grateful to the orchestra for their openness and commitment and for the wonderful collaboration we’ve shared together. I’m especially proud of our recording for Harmonia Mundi and our recent Schumann-Tchaikovsky Festival in Hannover. I’m delighted to announce that I will return to work with the orchestra as a guest conductor in the 2027-28 season.”
Significant debuts await Kochanovsky in the coming season. He is set to conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for the first time at Munich’s Isarphilharmonie with a programme comprising Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten’s Nocturne for tenor, seven obligato instruments and strings with Allan Clayton as tenor soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony ‘Winter Daydreams’ (Friday 12 February 2027). The conductor’s schedule also includes his debut with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Sunday 8 November 2026), with a programme including Jörg Widmann’s Elegie for clarinet and orchestra, and Rachmaninov’s First Symphony, a work he will record for Harmonia Mundi at the end of November with the NDR Radiophilharmonie.
Kochanovsky will also return to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. (Friday 15 & Saturday 16 January 2027) and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Friday 22, Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 January 2027), where he will conduct Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with Clara-Jumi Kang and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. He closes 2026 with a festive New Year’s Eve concert with the WDR Sinfonieorchester at Cologne’s Kölner Philharmonie, leading a programme featuring the 11-year-old Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Der Schneemann (orchestrated by Alexander von Zemlinsky), Strauss’s Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Glière’s Concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra with Katrina Galka, and selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Elsewhere in the season, Kochanovsky returns to the DR Danish National Symphony Orchestra (22 & 24 October) with works by Barber, Shin and Shostakovich, and to the Orchestra of La Fenice in Venice (17 & 18 December) for a Russian programme featuring Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.
Kochanovsky returns this autumn to the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for the eleventh time since making his debut with them in 2014. He will direct a three-concert Rachmaninov Festival at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, encompassing the composer’s five piano concertos with Nikolai Lugansky, together with the composer’s Second Symphony, The Rock and The Isle of the Dead (Monday 21, Thursday 24 & Sunday 27 September). Each programme will be recorded for future release by Harmonia Mundi, with Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and Second Symphony occupying a related tour to Verona (Wednesday 30 September), Rimini (Thursday 1 October) and Bratislava (Saturday 2 October). “This orchestra is very special to me,” states the conductor. “I first met them after I stepped in for Yuri Temirkanov twelve years ago, an experience I will never forget. This is an amazing orchestra, made up of very vibrant and charismatic individuals.
Stanislav Kochanovsky’s artistic development continues to be nourished by his roots in the great Russian tradition of music-making and the school of conducting cultivated in his home city of St Petersburg. “I am proud to be part of that tradition and to share it with orchestras and audiences around the world,” he notes. While Russian music is central to his repertoire, he has gained critical plaudits for interpretations of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss and a wealth of other composers. “The repertoire I programme is always very close to my heart, works that are important to me” says Kochanovsky. “It’s not only Russian music, of course, but many other things. And I like to choose less well-known pieces by famous composers. We should always push to do something new.”
“After my final season as Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, I plan to create more time in my schedule for opera alongside my symphonic engagements,” Stanislav Kochanovsky reflects. “I grew up as a conductor in the opera house and have missed being able to spend six consecutive weeks on the same piece, shaping an opera interpretation from the beginning. Before then, however, I have a full season to enjoy with my fabulous colleagues in Hannover.”