“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.” (by David Gutman, Gramophone, 2012)

A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended music school and later the celebrated conservatory in his native city, where he studied violin, viola and conducting. At the age of twenty, Daniel Raiskin left the Soviet Union to continue his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. Inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula. Raiskin, who cultivates a broad repertoire, often looks beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes.

From the 2018/19 season onwards, Daniel Raiskin will be Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Since 2017/18 he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerifeand of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Artistic Partner of the Chamber Orchestra St. Michael Strings in Finland. Daniel Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and held the same title with the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015). 

His regular guest engagements include the Athens State Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symfoniorkester, Mariinsky Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, State Academic Symphony of Russia „Svetlanov“ and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen.

His regular appearances in the opera house have included Carmendirected by Calixto Bieito for the Dutch company Opera Zuid, and at the Koblenzer Stadttheater, where he also conducted Shostakovich’s The Nose. Raiskin conducted the Minsk Orchestra in an acclaimed production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the St. Margarethen Opernfestspiele 2011 in Austria.

Daniel Raiskin’s engagements in the 2017/18 season include appearances with Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Jenaer Philharmonie, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Clásica Santa Caecilia, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Slovenska Filharmonia Bratislava (including a tour through Japan), Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

He will give his debut with the Philharmonic Orchestras in Freiburg and Györ as well as with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Among the major soloists with whom Daniel Raiskin has appeared are Kolja Blacher, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Kari Kriikku, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Mischa Maisky, Olli Mustonen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Gerhard Oppitz, Steven Osborne, Ivo Pogorelich, Julian Rachlin, Vadim Repin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Akiko Suwanai, Anna Vinnitskaya, Stefan Vladar 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 two Louis Glass Symphony cycles with the label CPO, Lutosłlawski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and the world premiere recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes.