Christian Thielemann

Born in Berlin in 1959, Christian Thielemann studied viola, piano, and conducting in his hometown. He began his career as a répétiteur at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1978, and the following year Herbert von Karajan engaged him as his assistant. Thielemann transferred to Düsseldorf as First Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1985 and was General Music Director at the Nuremberg Theater from 1988 to 1992; from 1997 to 2004, he held the same position at Deutsche Oper Berlin. He then became Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic and held this post until the summer of 2011. Thielemann has been Principal Conductor
of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2012; in July 2024, he will conclude his tenure with Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. From 2013 to 2022, he was also Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival, which he presented with the Staatskapelle. For more than 20 years, from 2000 to 2022, Thielemann was closely associated with the Bayreuth Festival, at times as Music Director. He has earned a high reputation as a specialist in German late Romanticism, particularly through his performances of Wagner, Strauss, and Bruckner. His repertoire also includes works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann; French composers; and contemporary music. Thielemann regularly guest conducts the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras; he conducted the latter’s New Year’s Concert in 2019 and will do so once again in 2024. In addition to numerous recordings, Thielemann has published books on Wagner and Beethoven. He was awarded the Richard Wagner Prize in 2015 and received the Badge of Honor of the State of Salzburg and the Coat of Arms Medal in Gold of the City of Salzburg in 2022. He is a recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, an honorary doctor of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar and the Catholic University in Leuven, and a patron of the Richard Wagner Sites in Graupa.

Lucerne Festival debut on 23 March 2002 leading the Munich Philharmonic in works by Debussy, Chausson, and Ravel.

July 2023