British composer and conductor Thomas Adès has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra from September 2026, in what appears to be the first long-term conducting title of his career.
The appointment formalises a relationship that stretches back more than three decades. Adès first worked with the Hallé in 1993, when he was named Composer-in-Association, and the orchestra later premiered his These Premises Are Alarmed in 1996 for the opening of Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
More recently, Adès served as Artist-in-Residence with the orchestra, conducting performances of his own music and expanding a collaboration that has become one of the Hallé’s defining contemporary music partnerships.
As Principal Guest Conductor, Adès will lead three programmes during the Hallé’s 2026/27 Manchester season. The concerts, curated together with the orchestra, will combine his own music with works by composers including Igor Stravinsky, Edward Elgar, Alban Berg, Emmanuel Chabrier, and Gerald Barry, alongside premieres by Gabriella Smith and Francisco Coll.
The collaboration will also extend beyond orchestral concerts. Adès is scheduled to perform in a chamber concert as part of the Hallé Chamber Series at Hallé St Peter’s in March 2027, with additional chamber projects, commissions, and recordings planned during his tenure.
In a statement, Adès described conducting as an “essential role” alongside composing, adding that it felt like “the right moment to have a deeper relationship with an orchestra over a number of years.”
The appointment reflects the increasingly prominent role Adès has taken on the podium in recent years. Although internationally recognised primarily as one of the leading composers of his generation — with works such as Powder Her Face, The Tempest, Asyla, and In Seven Days — he has also built a significant conducting career, appearing with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
For the Hallé, the announcement also reinforces the orchestra’s long-standing commitment to contemporary music and living composers, an area that has become increasingly central to its artistic identity in recent seasons.
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