December 2017 saw the announcement that Lawrence Foster is to be the new Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he takes up in September 2019. Mr Foster said ​“an opportunity to work with this wonderful Orchestra is one of the greatest honours in my musical career….. I feel a sense of responsibility towards the Orchestra and will do my best to maintain its high standard.” Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki said of the appointment ​“that the ensemble deserved to have a world-calibre conductor in Mr Foster”. Prior to taking up his position, Mr Foster will conduct two programmes with the Orchestra in November 2018 and April 2019, the latter at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw conducting the rarely performed masterpiece of Frank Martin – his oratorio Golgotha.

Currently in his sixth season as Music Director at l’Opéra Marseille — where he remains until October 2021 — this season Lawrence Foster conducts productions of Gounod’s Faust and Verdi’s Rigoletto alongside concerts with L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille in a wide range of repertoire ranging from Beethoven and Brahms, to Bartók and Kodály to Johann Strauss, Bernstein and Penderecki.
 
Lawrence Foster is a major champion of the music of George Enescu, serving as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival from 1998 to 2001. His recordings of Enescu’s Oedipe and of the First and Second Symphonies have received great critical acclaim.
 
In great demand as a guest conductor by opera houses and orchestras throughout the world, Lawrence Foster has a notable discography: recent recordings for Pentatone include Martinů’s Double Concertos, Strauss’ Zigeunerbaron, the Four Schumann symphonies and the November 2018 release of Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with the NDR Radiophilharmonie.