Internationally recognized for his dynamic musicianship and insightful interpretations, Dutch conductor Otto Tausk has worked with leading orchestras and opera houses worldwide, conducting a diverse repertoire ranging from core symphonic works to contemporary compositions.
Tausk is Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor to the VSO School of Music, where he has collaborated with leading soloists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Daniil Trifonov, Gidon Kremer, James Ehnes, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Hilary Hahn, Khatia Buniatishvili, and Hélène Grimaud.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include a Canadian tour with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, debuts with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic, and returns to the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Weimar. This summer, Tausk will conduct the NDR Philharmonie Hannover at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.
Tausk has appeared as a guest conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Stuttgart Philharmoniker, the National Orchestra of Belgium, and orchestras across the UK including BBC Scottish Symphony and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with whom he performed Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenlebe at the 2018 BBC Proms.
In summer 2024, Tausk continued his collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducting several sold-out performances at the Hollywood Bowl featuring the music of Tchaikovsky. His 2023/24 season included a highly successful tour of Thomas Adès’ opera Powder Her Face with the Reisopera and the world premiere of Het Pand der Goden by Surinamese composer Johannes Helstone with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which was broadcast on television in Paramaribo.
From 2012–2018, Tausk was Music Director of the Theater und Orchester Sankt Gallen, where he led numerous operas, including the world premiere of Annas Maske by Swiss composer David Hefti, the Swiss premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, and productions of Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Eugene Onegin, West Side Story, Lohengrin, and Ariadne auf Naxos. Other operatic engagements include the world premiere of Caruso in Cuba by Micha Hamel at Dutch National Opera and the 2022 world premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Upload in Amsterdam, followed by performances in Cologne, Bregenz, and New York.
Tausk has recorded with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Luc Brewaeys and Peter and the Wolf), Tonhalle-Orchester St. Gallen (Korngold and Diepenbrock), BBC Scottish Symphony (Mendelssohn), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (Gavin Bryars), and Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen). His 2011 recording of Hans Pfitzner’s Orchesterlieder for the cpo label received international acclaim, earning Classica France’s Choc du Mois. His Prokofiev recording with Rosanne Philippens was named BBC Music Magazine Concerto Disc of the Month (2018).
Born in Utrecht, Tausk initially studied violin with Viktor Liberman and Istvan Parkanyi before pursuing conducting with Kenneth Montgomery, Jurjen Hempel, and Jonas Aleksa in Vilnius, Lithuania. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Assistant Conductor to Valery Gergiev at the Rotterdam Philharmonic. For his contributions to the arts in the Netherlands, particularly his leadership at Holland Symfonia (2007–2012), Tausk was awarded the prestigious De Olifant prize by the City of Haarlem.
