During and immediately after his time as a student at the Conservatory of Utrecht studying percussion and piano, Ernst van Tiel conducted various Dutch broadcasting orchestras, including the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropole Orchestra. Building up a firm musical partnership with these orchestras, he subsequently conducted many of their classical and jazz music recordings.
After graduating, van Tiel studied conducting with Gary Bertini, Franco Ferrara and Jean Fournet, and he has conducted many of the leading Dutch Orchestras. Among them, van Tiel conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he acted as assistant to Valery Gergiev in many productions such as Bruckner Symphony Nos. 6, 7 & 9, Schoenberg Pellias und Melisande, Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle, Debussy La Mer and Strauss Frau ohne Schatten.
After a very successful debut at the Kirov Opera in St Petersburg conducting productions of Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor and Verdi’s Rigoletto, van Tiel was invited to conduct Strauss’ Elektra in 2008 and was subsequently asked to return in 2009, 2010 and 2011. As a result of this wonderful collaboration, van Tiel will reappear at the Mariinsky in several productions: Rigoletto, Elektra and Frau ohne Schatten.
Recently, van Tiel has worked with the Ulster Orchestra and conducted a very successful concert featuring Mahler and Gorecki at the Braunschweig Festival. He also led the Brussels Philharmonic and the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre on a highly acclaimed tour to Cité de la Musique in Paris, Antwerp and the Philharmonie in Luxembourg. Guest conductor of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007, in 2012 van Tiel was delighted to take up the post of Chief Conductor of the orchestra.
Van Tiel worked with many soloists, like Anna Netrebko and Maxim Vengerov a.o. With Maxim Vengerov he will record Szymanowski’s violin concertos.
Van Tiel conducted the Brussels Philharmonic’s recording of the original score for the film “The Artist” by Ludovic Bource. Winning five Oscars, seven BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and six César awards, with an award from each for Bource’s original composition, the film is now touring internationally with live orchestra accompaniment. Van Tiel is the conductor for each guest orchestra and has conducted performances of “The Artist” across the world, with orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra (Royal Albert Hall), Rotterdam Philharmonic (De Doelen), RSNO and Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival) as well as conducting performances of other ciné-concerts including “West Side Story” with the Orchestre National de Lyon.