DAVID AFKHAM is Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, a post he has held since winning the 2008 International Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, and Assistant Conductor of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. In addition, Afkham is a Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The summer of 2010 saw Afkham’s debut at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra at a City of London Festival concert. Additional highlights include engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, the Real Filharmonia de Santiago, and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, as well as return projects with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

David Afkham was the first recipient of the “Bernard Haitink Fund for Young Talent,” and he continues to work regularly with his mentor Bernard Haitink for major projects with the likes of the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw, and the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Born in 1983 in Freiburg, Germany, David Afkham received his first piano and violin lessons at the age of six. At the age of 15, he entered his native city’s University of Music to pursue studies in piano, music theory, and conducting. He won first prize in the solo-piano category of the 2002 “Jugend Musiziert” German National Piano Competition. He then completed his conducting training at the Liszt School of Music in Weimar. Afkham is a conducting fellow of the Richard Wagner Association in Bayreuth and recently became a member of the Conductor’s Forum of the German Music Council.