Xandi van Dijk

Xandi van Dijk conductor Born into a musical family in Cape Town, Xandi van Dijk started conducting at age 14 and by his mid twenties had conducted all the major South African orchestras. He conducted the William Kentridge production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Cape Town and Johannesburg, premiered his father P.L. van Dijk’s opera earthdiving at the Spier Summer Festival, recorded the soundtrack to the Philip Noyce blockbuster Catch a Fire and premiered struggle icon Denis Goldberg and Matthijs van Dijk’s Moments in a Life at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival 2016. Xandi made his European conducting debut with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and his German debut with the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO). This season has seen him return to the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg, Pärnu City Orchestra, MKO and debut with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Phion Symphony Orchestra in the Netherlands. In October 2024, Xandi founded the Viimsi Sinfonietta, which is constituted of some of Estonia’s top young instrumentalists and in residence at the Viimsi Artium. Xandi’ dual passions for conducting and chamber music led him to move to Germany, and since 2007 Xandi has been a member of the internationally renowned Signum Quartet. With them he has been a laureate of international competitions, and from 2011-2013 they were BBC Radio 3 New Generation 21 20Artists. Their recordings have received universal acclaim, and their debut disc for PENTATONE, Schubert “Aus der Ferne”, includes a number of Xandi’s arrangements of Schubert lieder. This album was a Diapason choice, and won an OPUS Klassik. 2023 saw the release of “Lebensmuth”, the final instalment of their Schubert trilogy, which garnered rave reviews and won a further OPUS Klassik in 2024 for Best Chamber Music Album of the Year. Concert appearances have led the Signum Quartet from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall and the Berliner Philharmonie to the the Aldeburgh Festival, the Festival Aix-en-Provence and the BBC Proms. They have recorded for Capriccio, harmonia mundi, Sony Classical and ECM.