David Afkham is Principal Conductor of theSpanish National Orchestra and Choir. He is in highdemand as a guest conductor with some of theworld’s finest orchestras and opera houses, and hasestablished a reputation as one of the most soughtafter conductors to emerge from Germanyin recent years.Highlights for the recent seasons include debutswith the Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony andOslo Philharmonic, as well as return projects withthe Munich Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker,Swedish Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic,Orchestra of Accademia Santa Cecilia, OrchestreNational de France, Gothenburg Symphony andFrankfurt Radio Symphony.In Summer 2014, David Afkham made a noted operadebut with Verdi’s La Traviata at GlyndebourneFestival Opera, later reviving the production withGlyndebourne on Tour. Recent and future operaprojects also include Hansel & Gretel (FrankfurtOpera) and Rusalka (Theater an der Wien).Born in 1983 in Freiburg, Germany; David Afkhamreceived his early piano and violin lessons at the ageof six. At 15, he entered his native city’s Universityof Music to pursue studies in piano, music theoryand conducting and continued his studies at the LisztSchool of Music in Weimar. David Afkham was thefirst recipient of the Bernard Haitink Fund for YoungTalent and assisted Maestro Haitink in a numberof major projects. He was the winner of the 2008Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London,resulting in him becoming the Assistant Conductorof the London Symphony Orchestra for two years.In 2010, David Afkham was the inaugural recipientof the ‘Nestlé and Salzburg Festival YoungConductors Award’, and was Assistant Conductorof the Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester 2009-2012.