Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is one of those rare musicians who has “transitioned uncommonly well to the podium, bringing his violinist’s insight and profound musicality” (Cleveland.com). The 2023/24 season marked his fourth as Music Director of the Orchestre national de Lyon, a partnership that has already been extended until 2026/27. 

Szeps-Znaider regularly features as guest conductor with some of the world’s leading orchestras, with recent and forthcoming performances with the New York Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, and Lucerne Symphony. An imminent return to the Chicago Symphony continues a flourishing relationship with the orchestra. On the operatic front, following an outstandingly successful début conducting The Magic Flute at the Semperoper Dresden, Szeps-Znaider was immediately reinvited to conduct Der Rosenkavalier in autumn 2019. He also recently made his début with the Royal Danish Opera and the Zurich Opera House with new productions of The Magic Flute and will also be conducting that title at the Bayerische Staatsoper.  

Also a virtuoso violinist, Szeps-Znaider maintains his reputation as one of the world’s leading exponents of the instrument with a busy calendar of concerto and recital engagements. This season, he makes return appearances with the London Philharmonic as well as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, where he is notably taking part in the Shostakovich Festival held on the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death, and will perform works alongside Daniil Trifonov and Gautier Capuçon. 

Szeps-Znaider boasts an extensive discography of much of the core repertoire for violin. A complete collection of Mozart’s violin concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, where Szeps Znaider directs from the violin, led The Strad to declare his playing as “possibly among the most exquisite violin sound ever captured on disc.” Other recordings of particular note include the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, the Elgar Concerto in B minor with Sir Colin Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden, award-winning recordings of the Brahms and Korngold Concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Beethoven and Mendelssohn Concertos with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Glazunov Concerto with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and the Mendelssohn Concerto on DVD with Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Szeps-Znaider has also recorded the complete works of Brahms for violin and piano with Yefim Bronfman.

Szeps-Znaider is passionate about supporting the next generation of musical talent, and is President of the Nielsen Competition. He plays the “Kreisler” Guarnerius “del Gesù” 1741 on extended loan from the Royal Danish Theatre through the generosity of the VELUX Foundations, the Villum Fonden, and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.