Christian Thielemann

Conductor Christian Thielemann was born in Berlin, Germany on April 1, 1959, and has conducted the New Year's Concert in Vienna on several occasions. After completing his musical apprenticeship on piano at the age of five, followed by viola, he went on to study composition and conducting. In 1979, he assisted Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival, before continuing with Daniel Barenboim at the Bayreuth Festival. Hired as Principal Conductor of Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1985, he was subsequently appointed Music Director of the Nuremberg Opera (1988-1992). He made a name for himself in the United States, conducting two Richard Strauss operas: Elektra in San Francisco in 1991 and Le Chevalier à la rose at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1993. A regular fixture on European opera stages, Christian Thielemann was appointed General Director of Berlin's Deutsche Oper (1997-2004) and conducted at Bayreuth for the first time in 2000, becoming Festival Advisor in 2008 and Music Director from 2015 to 2020. He also began collaborating regularly with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducted the Munich Philharmonic from 2004 to 2011, leaving to take over as Music Director of the Staatskapelle Dresden (2012-2024). Very active on the recording front, he made a complete recording of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen with the Vienna Staatsoper and conducted the New Year's Concert in 2019 and again in 2024. Artistic Director of the Salzburg Festival between 2013 and 2022, the conductor - renowned for his knowledge of the Germanic repertoire - was appointed General Director of the Berlin Opera (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) as of the 2024 season.

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