Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020–2021 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.

In December, Bignamini returned to Detroit to lead a triumphant performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst, Strauss’s Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.” He returned again in May 2021 to conduct four programs including performances with violinist Midori and pianist Orli Shaham.

A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the operatic arias of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Jader explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.

In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La Bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatoreand Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival and La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.

When Bignamini leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.

Performing music from baroque to new commissions on both modern and period instruments, Alina Ibragimova has established a reputation for versatility and the “immediacy and honesty” (The Guardian) of her performances.

The 2022–2023 season saw Ibragimova perform concertos by Jörg Widmann, Bartók, Prokofiev, and Mendelssohn with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony (all with Robin Ticciati), the London Philharmonic (with Edward Gardner), the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic, and Cologne’s Gürzenich-Orchester. She also begins a two-year Mozart cycle with Kammerorchester Basel and Kristian Bezuidenhout.

Last season’s highlights included returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra collaborating with Daniel Harding, Nathalie Stutzmann, and Maxim Emelyanychev, among others. She recently performed with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

In recital, Ibragimova regularly performs at London’s Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and at the Royal Albert Hall where she performed Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin at the BBC Proms. This season she continues her longstanding partnership with pianist Cédric Tiberghien with concerts across Europe and North America. Ibragimova is a founding member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet—one of the one of the most sought-after period ensembles.

Ibragimova’s discography on Hyperion Records ranges from Bach Concertos with Arcangelo to Prokofiev Sonatas with Steven Osborne. Her 2020 album of Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos with Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academy Symphony Orchestra of Russia received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’Or, and was one of The Times’s “Discs of the Year.” Her 2021 recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices topped the classical album charts on its release.

Born in Russia in 1985, Ibragimova studied at the Moscow Gnesin School before moving to the UK where she attended the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal College of Music. Her teachers have included Natasha Boyarsky, Gordan Nikolitch, and Christian Tetzlaff. Ibragimova’s many awards include the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2008, the Classical BRIT, and the Young Performer of the Year Award 2009. An alumnus of the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme (2005–2007), she was made an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours List. Ibragimova performs on a c.1775 Anselmo Bellosio violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel.