Swiss-Australian conductor, Elena Schwarz is rapidly gaining a reputation for her musical vision, versatility and insightful interpretations. With regular invitations from orchestras such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester and BBC Philharmonic, her re-invitations in the 2022/23 season also include the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and South Netherlands Philharmonic.

Highlights of the 2022/23 season include debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bremen Philharmoniker, Royal Philharmonique de Liège, Orchestre National de Lille, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the San Diego Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

Elena Schwarz has also guest conducted orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música.

Widely admired for her advocacy of new music, she has conducted world premiere performances by Peter Eötvös and George Aperghis and works regularly with specialist contemporary ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Luzern Festival Contemporary Orchestra conducting works by George Benjamin, Thomas Adès, Arnulf Herrmann, Olga Neuwirth, Lisa Streich and Francesco Filidei amongst others.

Elena Schwarz’s operatic work includes productions at Norwegian Opera (Hansel & Gretel), Opéra de Lyon (Peer Gynt), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (The Sleeping Thousand by Adam Maor) and future productions include Kat’a Kabanova (Opéra de Lyon) and Rusalka (Opéra de Nice).  

Elena Schwarz was awarded 1st Prize at the Princess Astrid Competition (Trondheim 2014), 2nd Prize at the Jorma Panula Competition (Vaasa 2015) and was a former Dudamel Fellow (2018-19).  She studied conducting at the Geneva Conservatoire and Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana whilst further studies brought her to Peter Eötvös and Matthias Pintscher, and masterclasses with Bernard Haitink and Neeme Järvi.  She was assistant to Mikko Franck at the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Marko Letonja at the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Asher Fisch at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra where she subsequently appointed Associate Conductor.