Gerald Karni (b. 1996) is a conductor whose career has quickly gained international recognition through performances with leading orchestras across Europe and the United States. He is a three-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and winner of the Silver Medal at the 3rd International Antál Doráti Conducting Competition in Budapest.

Recent highlights include appearances with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Belgrade Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Haifa Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic Ensemble, where he led the world premiere of Melinda Wagner’s Elegy Flywheel at Merkin Hall. Other notable engagements include performances with the Hamburger Camerata at the Elbphilharmonie, Mozartfest Augsburg, Traunsteiner Sommerkonzerte in Germany with Maximilian Hornung and Vilde Frang, an all-Beethoven program with the Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as conducting the Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, Søjyllands Symfoniorkester, and the Verbier Festival and Chamber Orchestras. In May 2024, he made his debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic, stepping in on a few hours’ notice to lead Strauss’s Don Quixote with Daniel Müller-Schott, Debussy’s Iberia, and Márquez’s Danzón No. 2.

Gerald has served as assistant conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, and was a Conducting Fellow at the Verbier Festival in 2022 and 2023, assisting Sir Simon Rattle, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Gianandrea Noseda, and Klaus Mäkelä. Upcoming projects include assisting Cristian Măcelaru with the Orchestre National de France in Paris and on its U.S. tour, continuing his work as a conductor fellow with the San Diego Symphony, and in 2026, making his debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and the Nürnberger Symphoniker in collaboration with violinist Guy Braunstein.

Originally trained as a violist, Gerald studied with Lawrence Power at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and completed his Master’s in Orchestral Conducting at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana with Marc Kissóczy. While living in Zurich, he founded Side-by-Side, a project bringing together members of the Tonhalle Orchestra and Zurich Opera with university students in open readings, strengthening the city’s musical community. Since 2015, he has been a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, where his long-standing relationship with its founder Daniel Barenboim has played a formative role in his artistic development.

Gerald makes his home in Stockholm with his fiancée and their dog Vilma, he enjoys following professional tennis in his free time.