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The German conductor, Christian Thielemann, studied viola and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and took private lessons in composition and conducting before becoming répétiteur aged 19 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Heinrich Hollreiser and working as Herbert von Karajan's assistant. He worked at a number of smaller German theatres including the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, in Karlsruhe, Hanover, at Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein as First Kapellmeister and in Nürnberg as Generalmusikdirektor before returning to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1991 to conduct Wagner's Lohengrin. During this time he also assisted Daniel Barenboim at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
Christian Thielemann's 1991-1992 season debut in the USA, conducting a new production of Strauss' Elektra in San Francisco was soon followed by engagements at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1997, he became Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. A report in 2000 stated that Thielemann was to leave the Deutsche Oper in 2001 over artistic conflicts with the then-incoming artistic director Udo Zimmermann. He remained with the company until 2004, when he resigned over conflicts regarding Berlin city funding between the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Christian Thielemann became Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Münchner Philharmoniker in September 2004. He stepped down from his Munich post in 2011, after disputes with orchestra management over final approval of selection of guest conductors and programs for the orchestra. In October 2009, the Sächsische Saatskapelle Dresden announced the appointment of Thielemann as its next Chief Conductor, effective with the 2012-2013 season. His current contract with Saatskapelle Dresden was through 2019. In November 2017, the Saatskapelle Dresden announced the extension of his contract as Chief Conductor through July 31, 2024. He has also been Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival since 2013, where the Saatskapelle Dresden is resident orchestra.
Christian Thielemann is a regular conductor at the Bayreuth Festival, following his début in 2000 with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and at the Salzburg Festival. He has returned to Bayreuth Festival every year to thrill audiences with groundbreaking interpretations. With the decision in September 2008 of the Richard Wagner Festival Foundation to appoint Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier to succeed Wolfgang Wagner as directors of the Bayreuth Festival, Thielemann was named Musical Advisor. In June 2015, the Bayreuth Festival formally announced the appointment of Thielemann as its Music Director. He is due to conduct the Wiener Philharmoniker.
Christian Thielemann has contributed to the birthday celebrations for Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss with numerous Saatskapelle Dresden concerts in the Semperoper and on tour. His programmes have also featured a wide range of music from J.S. Bach to Henze, Rihm and Sofia Gubaidulina. He conducted new productions of Manon Lescaut, Simon Boccanegra, Elektra and Der Frei schütz as well as two complete performances of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in Dresden. In Salzburg he directed the premieres of Parsifal, Arabella, Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci, Otello, Die Walküre and Tosca.
Christian Thielemann maintains close ties to the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker, whose New Year's Concert he will conduct in 2019 for the very first time. Much in demand as a versatile concert conductor, he has collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras as Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, London, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, and has also performed in Israel, Japan and China.
As a Unitel exclusive artist, Christian Thielemann has a comprehensive catalogue of recordings. His most recent ventures have been the recordings of Anton Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3-9, a complete cycle of the symphonies and solo concertos of Johannes Brahms as well as the operas Der Freischütz, Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci, Elektra, Die Walküre and Lohengrin for CD or DVD. With the Staatskapelle Dresden he has recorded symphonic works by L.v. Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Bruckner, Max Reger, Pfitzner and Ferruccio Busoni as well as various New Year’s Eve Concerts released on DVD. He has recorded all of L.v. Beethoven’s symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker.
In 2003, Christian Thielemann was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz). In October 2011, he received honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He holds honorary doctorates from the Franz Liszt College of Music in Weimar and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. In May 2015, he won the Richard Wagner Award (Richard-Wagner-Preis) of Leipzig., followed by the prize of the Semperoper Trust in October 2016. He served as the Humanitas Visiting Professor in Opera Studies at Oxford University in January 2016. |
