Born in Oxford, Daniel Harding began his career assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with which he made his professional debut in 1994.  He went on to assist Claudio Abbado at the Berlin Philharmonic and made his debut with the orchestra at the 1996 Berlin Festival. 

He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Partner of the New Japan Philharmonic. His previous positions include Principal Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony in Norway (1997-2000), Principal Guest Conductor of Sweden's Norrköping Symphony (1997-2003) and Music Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (1997-2003). 

Daniel Harding is a regular visitor to the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Vienna Philharmonic (both of which he has conducted at the Salzburg Festival), Royal Concertgebouworkest, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. Other guest conducting engagements have included the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Oslo Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Orchestras and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées.  Among the American orchestras with whom he has performed are the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 he opened the season at La Scala, Milan, conducting a new production of ‘Idomeneo’. He returned in 2007 for ‘Salome’ and in 2008 for a double bill of ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ and ‘Il Prigioniero’. His operatic experience also includes ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Wozzeck’ at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, ‘Wozzeck’ at the Theater an der Wien, and ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic.  Closely associated with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, he has conducted new productions there of ‘Così fan tutte’ directed by Patrice Chereau, ‘Don Giovanni’ directed by Peter Brook, ‘The Turn of the Screw’ directed by Luc Bondy, ‘La Traviata’ directed by Peter Mussbach, ‘Eugene Onegin’ directed by Irina Brook and, most recently, ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ directed by Vincent Boussard. Other engagements have included ‘Die Zauberflöte’ in Vienna and ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich. His future engagements include ‘Otello’ in Baden Baden, and ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ & ‘I Pagliacci’ at La Scala, Milan.

Daniel Harding records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc for the yellow label, a recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 10 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, has won widespread critical acclaim. Previously a Virgin/EMI artist, his recordings for that label include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Brahms’ Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; ‘Billy Budd’ with the London Symphony Orchestra (winner of a Grammy Award for best opera recording); ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘The Turn of the Screw’ (awarded the “Choc de l'Année 2002”, the “Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros” and a Gramophone award) both with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; works by Lutos?awski with Solveig Kringelborn and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and works by Britten with Ian Bostridge and the Britten Sinfonia (awarded the "Choc de L'Annee 1998”).

In 2002 he was awarded the title Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

Interview with Daniel Harding