Maestro Christian Thielemann (Conductor)
Since 2004, Christian Thielemann has been Musical Director of the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Berlin, from an early age he began working with
small ensembles throughout Germany. Today, after twenty years working on small
stages, Christian Thielemann collaborates with highly select orchestras and the
leading opera houses. Orchestras he has appeared with include the Vienna, Berlin
and London Philharmonic Orchestras, Dresden's Staatskapelle Orchestra, the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to
name but a few. Christian Thielemann also works with major theatres such as the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York,
the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Wiener Staatsoper. At the Staatsoper, the
conductor led a new production of Tristan und Isolde (2003) and a revival of the
opera Parsifal (2005). Christian Thielemann's opera repertoire ranges from
Mahler to Schoenberg and Heinz.
From 1997-2004, Christian Thielemann was
Musical Director of Berlin's Deutsche Oper. Not least because of his Berlin
productions of Wagner's operas and performances of works by Richard Strauss,
Thielemann is considered to be in top demand as a conductor throughout the
world.
In 2000, Christian Thielemann made his Bayreuth Festival debut
with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Ever since, his name has appeared on the
playbills of numerous festivals. In 2001 at the Bayreuth Festival, he conducted
a performance of the opera Parsifal, and in 2002 and 2005 came the opera
Tannhäuser, while since 2006 he has conducted a production of Der Ring des
Nibelungen, which met with delight from audiences and critics alike. In 2000,
Christian Thielemann began working with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In
September 2002 he conducted the orchestra at the hall of the Musikverein,
subsequently touring to London, Paris and Japan. In summer 2005 the orchestra of
the Vienna Philharmonic and maestro Thielemann opened the Salzburg
Festival.
In November 2005 Christian Thielemann participated in a
celebratory concert marking fifty years since the opening of the Wiener
Staatsoper after World War II.
Christian Thielemann and the London
Symphony Orchestra recorded all of Schumann's symphonies and Beethoven's Fifth
and Seventh Symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon. February 2005 saw the release of
a disc with Anton Bruckner's Fifth Symphony, which was recorded at a concert
marking Christian Thielemann's appointment as Musical Director of the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. On 20 October 2005 the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
under maestro Thielemann gave a concert in honour of Pope Benedict XVI in the
Vatican City. This concert drew immense interest from the press and was recorded
on CD and DVD.
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