Conductor

Cornelius Meister

Biography – about the artist.

Generalmusikdirektor Staatsoper AND Staatsorchester Stuttgart 

Cornelius Meister has been Music Director at the Staatsoper und Staatsorchester Stuttgart since 2018. Among the awards he has received in recent years are the Gramophone Award 2022 in the "Contemporary" category, the OPUS Klassik as "Conductor of the Year", the International Classical Music Award in the "Symphonic Recording" category for the complete recording of Bohuslav Martinů's symphonies as well as the Diapason d'Or and the German Record Critics' Award for the DVD "Jules Massenet: Werther" (Zurich Opera House). Under his direction, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart was also awarded the Innovation Prize of the German Orchestra Foundation in 2020. 

The 2022/23 season was marked by important debuts: at the Bayreuth Festival ("Der Ring des Nibelungen", released by Deutsche Grammophon), in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie (concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra), at the Maggio Musicale Florence ("Faust" by Ferruccio Busoni) as well as with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the WDR Sinfonieorchester. He has continued his long-standing collaboration with the Semperoper Dresden ("Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss), the NDR Radiophilharmonie as well as with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Prague Spring Festival.


In the 2023/24 season, Cornelius Meister returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for two productions and to the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, and makes his debut with the Wiener Symphoniker. His long-standing collaboration with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin will take him to the Beethovenfest in Bonn and to the NDR Radiophilharmonie, following his success at last year's Klassik Open Air concerts. He makes his debut at the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia" with a new production of Rusalka and conducts a production of Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Lille. He also conducts the Essener Philharmoniker during for their anniversary season. Furthermore, he will make guest appearances with the Stuttgart State Orchestra in Cologne and Paris, and he will premiere with the orchestra Richard Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten and Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. As a pianist, he will perform songs by Robert and Clara Schumann over the next three years, following the three major Schubert cycles Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang. In addition, there are numerous projects planned for people of all generations who are hearing a symphony orchestra for the first time.

Known for his wide repertoire, Cornelius Meister has performed works by more than 250 composers over the past 40 years. These include all the symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Sibelius and Martinů, as well as all the tone poems by Richard Strauss and many world premieres. He has appeared with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra of New York, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France and Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome and Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, as well as the NDR, WDR, SWR, BR Radio Symphony Orchestras and Zurich’s La Scintilla.

Cornelius Meister made his debut at the Hamburgische Staatsoper at the age of 21, followed by engagements at the Bayerische Staatsoper München, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, New National Theatre (Tokyo), Opéra National de Paris, San Francisco Opera, The Royal Danish Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Since 2012 he has been conducting at the Wiener Staatsoper, since 2015 at the Teatro alla Scala Milan and since 2019 at the Metropolitan Opera New York.

Born in Hanover in 1980, Cornelius Meister studied piano, cello, horn, conducting and philosophy in Hanover with Konrad Meister, Martin Brauß and Eiji Ōue, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Dennis Russell Davies, Jorge Rotter and Karl Kamper on a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. He has appeared as a pianist in Europe and the United States and has led piano concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Liszt and Gershwin, as well as Arvo Pärt’s ‘Credo’ from the keyboard.

Cornelius Meister was Music Director of the Theater und Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg from 2005 to 2012, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien from 2010 to 2018 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2020.

SEASON 2023/24


Orchestra.

Staatsoper Stuttgart

The Stuttgart State Opera under the direction of Cornelius Meister goes on tour with Richard Strauss’ Elektra.

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The next dates:

04.04.2024

Heiliggeistkirche Heidelberg

Heidelberg

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05.04.2024

Heiliggeistkirche Heidelberg

Heidelberg

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29.04.2024

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Paris

05.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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09.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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11.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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15.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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16.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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19.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

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21.05.2024

Kölner Philharmonie

Köln

30.05.2024

Staatstheater Stuttgart

Stuttgart

> more about the promoter

Your contact persons:

General Management:

Katerina Kanavaki

+49 30 5213 702-23

katerina.kanavaki@kdschmid.de

General Management:

Claude Boischot

+49 511 36607-85

claude.boischot@kdschmid.de

Annika Kochmann

Artist Coordinator

+49 511 36607-86

annika.kochmann@kdschmid.de

James Lee

Artist Coordinator

+49 511 36607-56

james.lee@kdschmid.de

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Need more material? Feel free to ask:

Annika Kochmann

Artist Coordinator

+49 511 36607-86

annika.kochmann@kdschmid.de

James Lee

Artist Coordinator

+49 511 36607-56

james.lee@kdschmid.de

Discography.

Hans Werner Henze

Der Prinz von Homburg

06.2020, Capriccio, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Bohuslav Martinů

The Symphonies

10.2017, Capriccio, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Gustav Mahler

Das klagende Lied

09.2017, Capriccio, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Antonín Dvořák

The Spectre's Bride

04.2017, Capriccio, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

News.

Cornelius Meister to lead the Wiener Symphoniker

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Cornelius Meister to conduct Rusalka at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia

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Cornelius Meister returns to the Wiener Staatsoper

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Cornelius Meister to conduct the Hannover Klassik Open Air Concerts 2023

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Re-invitation to the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and debut with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

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Cornelius Meister conducting Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

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Press.

„Cornelius Meister, the German conductor who made his NSO debut in 2014 and who proved, yet again, that he is the real deal, and someone to watch. […] He conducts with such fluidity and drive that the sheer volume he commands takes you by surprise: a tsunami that approaches smoothly and then bowls you over.“

Washington Post, Annette Midgette, 16.02.2017