Christian Thielemann

Christian Thielemann, born in Berlin in 1959, is among the foremost living conductors of the Austro-German tradition, a musician whose name has become almost synonymous with the core repertoire of Brahms, Bruckner, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. He learned his craft the old way, working his way up through the German opera houses as a répétiteur and Kapellmeister, including a spell as assistant to Herbert von Karajan, before holding leading positions in Nuremberg, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and at the Munich Philharmonic. From 2012 to 2024 he served as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, one of the oldest and most distinctive orchestras in Europe, and he has been a central figure at the Bayreuth Festival, where his Wagner has set a modern benchmark. In 2024/25 he took up the post of Generalmusikdirektor of the Berlin State Opera, leading the Staatskapelle Berlin. Throughout his career he has maintained an especially deep and trusting relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, with whom he has conducted the New Year’s Concert (in 2019 and 2024) and recorded the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Bruckner. This all-Brahms morning at the Salzburg Festival places him squarely in his element, drawing from the Viennese players the dark warmth, structural breadth, and long-breathed phrasing for which his Brahms is admired.