Only weeks after Gramophone named him as one of the 10 new conductors “on the verge of greatness”, Robin Ticciati has been announced as the next music director of the Glyndebourne Festival. The 27 year-old, a protégé of Sir Colin Davis, is due to take over from Vladimir Jurowski in January 2014.

That year will also mark the tenth anniversary of his Glyndebourne debut, when he was assistant conductor for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne On Tour. Ticciati has been nurtured by the company over the years, and in 2007 took over the festival’s touring arm. One of the world’s most in-demand young conductors, Ticciati is also principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

In a statement, Glyndebourne’s general director David Pickard said, “None of us will forget the excitement when, as a 21-year-old assistant conductor on Die Zauberflöte in 2004, Robin Ticciati stood in the pit at Glyndebourne for the first time and conducted the overture. Those who were present at this rehearsal were in no doubt of his exceptional talent.”

His praise was echoed by Jurowski, whose own tenure at the festival (he took over in 2000) has been extremely successful. With Jurowski also much in demand, opera lovers will be speculating whether another opera company will take its place alongside his other job running the London Philharmonic.