In recent years, Duncan Ward has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation, whose lively interpretations of the classical repertoire are praised as much as his interpretations of 20th century masterpieces. Duncan Ward has been Chief Conductor of Philzuid since 2021. In addition to concerts in the Netherlands, the 2026/27 sees Duncan return to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Osaka Philharmonic and Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra, and debut with the Tampere Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic.

Highlights of the previous three seasons have included debuts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester and NDR Radiophilharmonie; alongside returns to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Gürzenich-Orchester, Orchestre Philharmonique du
Luxembourg, Musikkollegium Winterthur and Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

Duncan made his North American debut conducting ›Die Zauberflöte‹ at The Metropolitan Opera in 2022.

Recent opera credits have included ›A Midsummer Night’s Dream‹ for Opernhaus Zürich, ›Turn of the Screw‹ for English National Opera, ›Così fan tutte‹ for Opéra National de Lyon, ›Death in Venice‹ for Stuttgart Staatsoper, ›Peter Grimes‹ for Oper Köln and ›Bluthochzeit‹ for Oper Frankfurt.

Duncan’s passion for a wide range of repertoire has seen him work with leading specialist ensembles ranging from Les Siècles and Balthasar Neumann Orchestra to Ensemble Modern and Ensemble intercontemporain. He studied Indian classical music with Ravi Shankar as a result of his charitable work in Europe and Asia.