Since his prodigious breakthrough as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the age of 19, Ilan Volkov has matured into a versatile conductor whose interpretations of familiar repertoire are sought after internationally. He enjoys a long-standing relationship with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, as Principal Conductor from 2003, Principal Guest Conductor from 2009 to 2024, and currently as Creative Partner. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor with Brussels Philharmonic, where he develops and expands the path of new music with the orchestra.

A musical omnivore, Volkov is a dynamic figurehead of the international contemporary music scene. In 2012, he launched Tectonics Festival, which has since become one of the world’s most diverse and acclaimed celebrations of new music, with editions in Adelaide, Oslo, New York, Tel Aviv, Krakow, Athens, Glasgow and Reykjavík. In 2026 it takes place in Brussels, in addition to Glasgow.

He works with ensembles around the globe and appears at the world’s foremost festivals, such as Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Unsound Krakow, Musikprotkoll and Berlin. He is a regular visitor at the BBC Proms and Salzburg Festival, the diversity of his programming over the past 25 years spanning from Mozart’s Requiem to, most recently, Marko Nikodijevic’s gesualdo dub / raum mit gelöschter figur. This season Volkov conducts the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra as part of the 2026 Summer Residency.

Equally at home in opera, he has conducted Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for San Francisco Opera, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Glyndebourne Festival, Peter Grimes for Washington National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival, and George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at Opernhaus Zürich. He also conducted the world premieres of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners with Norwegian National Opera and Samir Odeh-Tamimi’s L’Apocalypse Arabe for Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Volkov’s diverse discography includes Stravinsky’s ballet scores and a Gramophone Award-winning recording of Britten’s complete works for piano and orchestra, both for Hyperion, and a critically acclaimed survey of Liszt’s three Funeral Odes with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.