English National Opera's highly regarded conductor Edward Gardner is to leave at the end of the 2014-15 season to take the baton at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, it has been announced.
He will be succeeded as music director by the experienced and also highly regarded Mark Wigglesworth, who has worked with orchestras across Europe and North America.
John Berry, ENO's artistic director, called Gardner – only 31 when he was appointed in 2007 – "a phenomenal music director, rightly winning plaudits across the board for the outstanding performances of our orchestra and chorus under his leadership."
He also praised Wigglesworth, another Englishman, whose CV includes work with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the New York Philharmonic. "Mark is one of the most outstanding conductors of his generation and I'm thrilled to be working with him," said Berry.
Wigglesworth is a former music director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and no stranger to the Coliseum, where he has conducted productions including Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 2001 and Parsifal in 2011.
Gardner, who also regularly conducts at the Met in New York, said he was "leaving to explore new musical relationships" but would be back at the ENO in 2016. "At ENO I've been surrounded by brilliant people creating some of the best opera productions in the world, and I will never forget nine seasons of working with such an outstanding orchestra."
