Finnegan Downie Dear
Finnegan came to international attention in 2020, when he was awarded first prize at the Bamberger Symphoniker’s International Mahler Competition. The jury spoke of his ‘rare combination of open heart and brilliant mind’, with 'an ability to evoke truly magical moments as if there were nothing more natural to do’.
In the 22/23 season he made his debut at the Staatsoper Berlin (Janáček The Makropulos Case) as well as working with the Staatskapelle Berlin in concert. He also made debuts with the Camerata Salzburg, Tampere Philharmonic, Adelaide, Baltimore, Bournemouth, Polish National Radio and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras, as well as returning to the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Previous highlights include performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Filarmonica di Bologna, Borusan Philharmonic Istanbul and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In 2021, he returned to Bamberg for subscription concerts with Thomas Hampson.
The 23/24 season will include debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tönkunstler Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Janacek Philharmonic and the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic. He’ll also return to the Staatskapelle Berlin, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic and the Romanian Radio National Orchestra. He
will appear for the first time at Staatsoper Hamburg for Eugene Onegin and at the State Opera of South Australia for Macbeth.
In future seasons, Finnegan will conduct new productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Theater an der Wien, he’ll return to the Staatsoper Berlin and make his debut at Garsington Opera. Previous opera experience includes Die tote Stadt at Polish National Opera, Hänsel und Gretel at Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Korean National Opera, Le nozze di Figaro at Royal Swedish Opera, Don Giovanni at Nevill Holt Opera and Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Underground at the Royal Opera House.
Since 2014 he has been Music Director of Shadwell - an East London company that works with exceptional young musicians to champion contemporary British repertoire and experiment with new operatic forms. The company’s production of Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are toured to the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg in 2019; and to Bamberg in 2022 for performances with the Bamberger Symphoniker.
Born in London, Finnegan graduated with distinction from Cambridge University (musicology) and the Royal Academy of Music (piano). He subsequently worked as an assistant to Simone Young, Thomas Adès, Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding and Richard Baker.
