One of the most exciting conductors on today's musical scene Ion Marin is a citizen of Austria, currently residing in Switzerland having defected from his native Romania in 1986. His musical training as composer, conductor and pianist was received at the George Enescu Academy in Bucharest, the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Accademia Chiggiana in Siena.

His first major post was Resident Conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (during Claudio Abbado's tenure as Director) where between 1987 and 1991 he conducted a wide range of repertoire from Mozart to Berg. His symphonic reputation, focused on late Romanticism and the 20th Century, developed through conducting orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Staatskapelle Dresden. He has collaborated with such distinguished soloists as Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich, Sarah Chang, Yuri Bashmet and Franck Peter Zimmerman.

In the 2001 - 02 season Ion Marin toured with the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra in the UK and the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra in Germany, as well as making his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His tour of Germany in 2001 with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra led to rave reviews in the press and he also returned to America to conduct the Detroit Symphony.

Recent appearances included further concerts with the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra; the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra Berlin; the Orchestre National de France; Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse and Mittel Deutsche Rundfunk in Leipzig and in Rome with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra. Forthcoming appearances include performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra; the NDR Hamburg; the Bamberg Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as well as touring activities with the Philharmonic Sinfonietta Berlin.

A conductor who has established a solid reputation both in symphonic and opera repertoire, Ion Marin's operatic activities have included new productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Opera Bastille, Rossini Opera Festival and the Nuovo Piccolo Teatro in Milan which he inaugurated. He has worked with most of the world's greatest singers including Jesse Norman, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Cecelia Bartoli and Dmitri Hvorostovsky to mention but a few, and with producers such as Giorgio Streller, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Roman Polanski, Germon and Harry Kupfer. Recently he conducted two new Britten productions; A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Dresden Opera and Billy Budd at the Royal Danish Opera; Nabucco at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and La ceneroentola at Opernhaus Zurich. Forthcoming productions will see him conduct Manon at La Scala; Blue Beard's CastlE at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen and Nabucco at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari.

Ion Marin's discography has earned him three Grammy nominations, the Deustche Schallplatten Critic Prize and the Daipason Palme d'Or. His records issued by DG, Decca, Sony, Philips and EMI include his acclaimed debut Lucia di Lammermoor (Record of the Year 1993); Semiramide (Opera Record of the Year 1995, Grammy Award nominee), and Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino. Two of his recordings with the BBC Scottish Symphony (Mahler Symphony No. 4 and most recently Bruckner Symphony no. 4) were both chosen to accompany the BBC Music Magazine. Recent releases are Mysterium for Decca and a Covent Garden Gala concert with Angela Gheorghiu for EMI that was also issued on DVD. He is the recipient of the Alfred Schnittke medal 2004 for his special contribution to Contemporary Music.