Daniel Harding’s career was kickstarted when, aged 17, he sent a tape of his conducting to Simon Rattle, who instantly installed him as his assistant at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. When Claudio Abbado offered him a similar position at the Berlin Philharmonic, Harding (born in Oxford in 1975) was anointed a wunderkind of the international conducting circuit, and his diary rapidly filled with guest appearances. His career path quickly centred on mainland Europe, where he developed strong artistic links with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Among his numerous albums with the ensemble are acclaimed recordings of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Steven Isserlis (2013), and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust (2011). Harding has also worked in opera, and aged just 30 led the opening night of the 2005 season at La Scala in Milan, conducting Mozart’s Idomeneo (1781). In 2007 he was appointed principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, starting a long-term relationship that has yielded significant recordings. These include Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 (1858) with Paul Lewis (2016), and Ein Deutsches Requiem (1868) by the same composer (2019). Despite a super-busy schedule, Harding has also found time to qualify as a pilot, announcing his intention in 2018 to fly the Airbus A320 commercially for Air France.