Stanley Dodds
violin, conductor
Stanley Dodds is not only a violinist and member of the media and foundation board of the Berliner Philharmoniker, but also chief conductor of the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin. When no public concerts were able to take place in 2020 during the pandemic, he produced [The Berlin Phil Series], an online concert series broadcast in the Digital Concert Hall, in which members of the Berliner Philharmoniker presented weekly hosted programmes supplemented by archive material.
Stanley Dodds was born in Canada and grew up in Australia. He received his first violin and piano lessons at the age of four. He later attended the Musikgymnasium and the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, and subsequently studied under Gunars Larsens at the Lucerne School of Music. As a violinist, he continued his training under Rainer Sonne in the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and became a permanent member of the orchestra in 1994. Stanley Dodds trained as a conductor in Australia, Germany and Switzerland – under Jorma Panula, among others. He was also influenced by the chief conductors of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. Dodds has conducted the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the Symphoniker Hamburg, the orchestra of the Jenaer Philharmonie, the Australian World Orchestra, various ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the orchestra of the Karajan Academy and the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin. He is a popular guest at the music festivals in Salzburg and Baden-Baden, at Musica Viva in Munich and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as well as at Musikfest Berlin and MaerzMusik. As part of his work with children, young people and amateurs, Stanley Dodds was chief conductor of the Berliner Sibelius Orchester and the Sinfonie Orchester Schöneberg. He leads the state youth orchestra of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s annual school orchestra meeting and the youth composition workshop, and is also artistic director of the Jugendorchester-Festival Neubrandenburg.
