OTTO TAUSK

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Music Director 

Dutch conductor Otto Tausk has been Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 2018 and is also Artistic Advisor to the VSO School of Music. During his tenure, he has collaborated with many of the world’s 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. In April 2026, Tausk took Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on their first European tour spanning five countries and seven concerts, with performances in Croatia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, and Germany, including a residency at the prestigious Salzburg Easter Festival.

The 2026/27 season sees Tausk continue his international work with engagements across Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. He returns to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for two projects, including a collaboration with pianist Alexandra Dariescu, as well as returns to Adeleide and Queensland Symphony Orchestra and debuts with Victoria Symphony (BC) and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. In Europe, he returns to OSPA Oviedo and Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, while further engagements include Staatsorchester Kassel, Staatskapelle Weimar and Staatstheater Hannover. In the UK, he returns to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with pianist Stephen Hough, and in Japan he conducts the Kanazawa Symphony Orchestra.

Recent seasons have included debuts with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic and NDR Philharmonie Hannover at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, alongside returns to Danish National Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra at the Klara Festival, Residentie Orkest and West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Stuttgart Philharmoniker and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. 

In summer 2024, Tausk returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for sold-out performances at the Hollywood Bowl, while his 2023/24 season included a successful tour of Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face with Reisopera and the world premiere of Johannes Helstone’s Het Pand der Goden with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From 2012 to 2018, he was Music Director of Theater und Orchester St. Gallen, where he conducted numerous productions including Don Giovanni, Lohengrin and Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as world premieres by David Hefti and Micha Hamel. His more recent operatic work includes Michel van der Aa’s Upload, which premiered in Amsterdam in 2022 before travelling to Cologne, Bregenz and New York.

Tausk has an active recording career and his discography includes recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchester St Gallen, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Danish National Symphony Orchestra, including Hans Pfitzner’s Orchesterlieder, which received the Choc du mois from Classica France, and Mendelssohn’s First Symphony, named BBC Music Magazine’s Concerto Disc of the Month.

Born in Utrecht, Tausk initially studied violin with Viktor Liberman and Istvan Parkanyi before studying conducting with Kenneth Montgomery, Jurjen Hempel and Jonas Aleksa in Vilnius, Lithuania. From 2004 to 2007, he was Assistant Conductor to Valery Gergiev at the Rotterdam Philharmonic. For his contribution to the arts in the Netherlands, particularly his leadership of Holland Symfonia from 2007 to 2012, Tausk was awarded the prestigious De Olifant prize by the City of Haarlem.

September 2026