Biography
“Daniel Raiskin is clearly a musician of sensibility, well versed in his craft; a further example perhaps of one last great gift of the old Soviet Union, the rigour and distinction of its conducting schools.”
With his unmistakable artistic signature, Daniel Raiskin has become one of the most recognized conductors of his generation and had developed a broad repertoire beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton as a result of an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula.
Daniel Raiskin is Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the 2026/27 season tours will take him with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra to Amsterdam and Bratislava. His regular guest appearances include the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Residentie Orkest, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife.
His appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Festival appearances include Music in the Mountains in Colorado in 2025 and performances with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra at the InClassica Dubai International Music
Festival in 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, he conducted the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in Japan, South Korea, and in Spain and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in the UK, in Amsterdam and Salzburg.
Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and South Africa.
Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cameron Crozman, Xavier de Maistre, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Hope, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Dejan Lazić, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya, Lukáš Vondráček and Alexei Volodin.
His extensive discography includes recent recordings of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 6 and 9 (Challenge Classics), both to great critical acclaim. Furthermore, he recorded a Louis Glass Symphony cycle and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian (CPO), Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works (Dux) and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes (World Premiere Recordings). His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel (AVI) label received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012.
Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005- 2016) and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (season 2017/18)
Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and South Africa.
Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cameron Crozman, Xavier de Maistre, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Hope, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya, Lukáš Vondráček and Alexei Volodin.
Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel and the label AVI received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include a Louis Glass Symphony cycles and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian, both with the label CPO,Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.