The Polish conductor Krzysztof Urbański has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Hamburg-based NDR (North German Radio) Symphony Orchestra. He takes up his position at the start of the 2015-16 season.

The contract requires Urbański to spend four weeks a year with the NDR SO which will include concerts, tours, recordings and education work. Urbański will work alongside the orchestra’s Music Director Thomas Hengelbrock and help broaden the orchestra’s repertoire and programming. The NDR SO’s Director Andrea Zietzschmann commented of the appointment that Krzysztof Urbański ‘has been working regularly with us since his debut in 2009 and his dynamic performances, musical understanding and charisma have impressed the players and helped attract a younger audience’.

The NDR SO will be moving into its new home, the Elbphilharmonie, in 2017 after numerous delays and escalating costs that are likely to be over €500 million (twice the initial estimate).

Krzysztof Urbański is Chief Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and will soon be making his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker (May 23-25), Chicago Symphony (July 10) and Pittsburgh Symphony orchestras (January 2015).