Stanley Dodds
Conductor
Stanley Dodds is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Cavatina Philharmonic Orchestra, in the architecturally renowned Cavatina Hall in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. He founded the orchestra in 2024 and it is the city's first full-time professional orchestra, performing around 30 concerts each season. Prior to that, he was the Principal Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, resident in the Philharmonie Berlin, from 2014-2025.
His fascination for pairing and contrasting unique mixes of orchestral repertoire in his programs, coupled with a meticulous approach to colour, articulation and phrasing, has been shaped by many formative years performing all over the world as a member of the Berlin Philharmoniker, receiving conducting mentorship from Jorma Panula, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle and Kirill Petrenko, as well as his special affinity for interpreting music of our time.
From the intimite beginning to the heroic Finale: Stanley Dodds and the Staatskapelle Halle’s Beethoven was scintillating.”
Klassik Begeistert, October 2018
Guest conductor appearances include engagements with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Halle, Hamburger Symphoniker, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Australian World Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg, Jena Philharmonic, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicale Milano, ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Karajan-Academy Orchestra and the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin. He has conducted at major Festivals in Salzburg and Baden-Baden, at the Musikfest and MaerzMusik in Berlin, Musica Viva in Munich and the Summer Festival in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania.
Opera
productions he conducted include Mozart Cosi fan tutte, Bizet Carmen,
Viardot Cendrillon, Weill Mahagonny Songspiel and Hindemith Lehrstück,
Offenbach The Princess of Trapezunt, Haydn Il mondo della luna,
Mozart/Tarkmann Die Zauberflöte and Albrecht Ritter Parceval.
His passion for contemporary music led him to found the ZeMu! Ensemble in 2021, which gave its inaugural performances at the Singapore International Arts Festival the following year premiering the multimedia work The Once and Future, with further performances at the New Vision Arts Festival in Hong Kong in 2023, and 2025 in Antwerp. His recordings of works by Wolfgang Rihm with musicians of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were nominated in the category "Conductor of the Year" in Germany's 2022 Opus Classic Awards.
Further important performances and recordings include Martón Illés Violin Concerto with Patricia Kopatschinskaya and the Karajan-Academy Orchestra, a "Baltic Roots" project with Baiba Skride, the world premiere of Alavò by Vito Žuraj and works by Esa-Pekka Salonen with members of the Berlin Philharmoniker.
Dodds is also highly valued for his keen understanding of the business of music, having for 12 years served as licensing and royalties administrator for the Berliner Philharmoniker, and a further 12 years on the executive board of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation.
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His passion for contemporary music led him to found the ZeMu! Ensemble in 2021, which gave its inaugural performances at the Singapore International Arts Festival the following year premiering the multimedia work The Once and Future, with further performances at the New Vision Arts Festival in Hong Kong in 2023, and 2025 in Antwerp. His recordings of works by Wolfgang Rihm with musicians of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were nominated in the category "Conductor of the Year" in Germany's 2022 Opus Classic Awards.
"Stanley Dodds [...] a conductor of formidable gifts, clarity was his keynote: clarity of musical thought, clarity of expression, clarity of technique."
New York Times, June 2018
New York Times, June 2018
Further important performances and recordings include Martón Illés Violin Concerto with Patricia Kopatschinskaya and the Karajan-Academy Orchestra, a "Baltic Roots" project with Baiba Skride, the world premiere of Alavò by Vito Žuraj and works by Esa-Pekka Salonen with members of the Berlin Philharmoniker.
Dodds is also highly valued for his keen understanding of the business of music, having for 12 years served as licensing and royalties administrator for the Berliner Philharmoniker, and a further 12 years on the executive board of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation.
"Stanley Dodds leads an inspired tour through a brilliantly orchestrated gem."
Limelight Magazine, May 2018
Limelight Magazine, May 2018
Stanley Dodds dedicates himself to nurturing next generation musicians and orchestral pedagogy. In 2024 he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Sydney Youth Orchestra, and has been artistic director of the State Youth Orchestra of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania since 2014. From 2013-2018 he was Director of the Young Concerts Festival for youth orchestras in Neubrandenburg. For the Berliner Philharmoniker he led for many years the Schools Orchestra Concert and Youth Composition Workshop.
Stanley Chia-Ming Dodds was born in Canada, grew up in Australia and is now based in Berlin as a dual German-Australian citizen. He began playing violin and piano in Adelaide at age four, attended the Bruckner Conservatorium and Musik High School in Linz before studying at Lucerne Conservatorium under Gunars Larsens. He continued violin studies at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic under Rainer Sonne before receiving tenure as a violinist in the orchestra in 1994. In 2024 he left the orchestra to focus solely on conducting.
︎ Peter Rigaud
Links / Media:
︎ Conducting Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker (M. Illés: Vont-tér)
︎Conducting works by Wolfgang Rihm on BR-Klassik Concert (Tabea Zimmermann, Christian Gerhacher, Jörg Widmann, Tamara Stefanovich and others)
︎︎︎ Stanley Dodds on the Digital Concert Hall of the Berliner Philharmoniker (performances and interviews)
︎ stanleydodds ︎
︎︎︎ artist’s website