Vincent Hardaker is one of New Zealand's most respected conductors. From 2020 to the end of 2021 he was New Zealand’s inaugural Assistant Conductor in Residence, and following this was engaged as the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Resident Conductor.
Recent symphonic work has been with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony, Dunedin Symphony and also the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. His opera experience includes a 2020 production of “Postcard from Morocco” from Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Dominick Argento. He was the NZSO Conducting Fellow in 2015, through which he assisted for the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, and received mentorship from such conductors as Vasily Petrenko, Jose Luis Gomez and Simone Young. He has attended significant conducting masterclasses throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand including such orchestras as the Odense, Tasmanian, and Accademia Chigiana with conductors such as Pietari Inkinen, Michael Schønwandt and Daniele Gatti.
Hardaker studied conducting in the soloist class of the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Giordano Bellincampi and Michael Schønwandt, and in 2014 he graduated from the New Zealand School of Music with a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in conducting under Kenneth Young and viola under Gillian Ansell.