Generalmusikdirektor Staatsoper AND Staatsorchester Stuttgart 

Cornelius Meister began his tenure as Music Director of the Staatsoper und Staatsorchester Stuttgart in 2018.

The awards that he has received in recent years include the Gramophone 2022 Award in the category ‘Contemporary’, the OPUS Klassik in the category ‘Conductor of the Year’, the International Classical Music Award in the category ‘Symphonic Recordings’ for the complete recording of Bohuslav Martinů’s symphonies, and the Diapason d’or and the German Record Critics’ award for the DVD ‘Jules Massenet: Werther’ (Opernhaus Zürich). Under his direction, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart was also awarded the Innovationspreis of the Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung in 2020.

Last summer, he conducted a new production of the ‘Ring des Nibelungen’ at the Bayreuth Festival. In the past two decades, he has conducted Richard Wagner's works regularly at major opera houses (Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden and Latvian National Opera, a.o.). In his fifth season, as a General Music Director in Stuttgart, Cornelius Meister goes on to conduct a further production of the Ring Cycle, as well as performances of Hänsel und Gretel and Rusalka.

As a concert conductor, Cornelius Meister continues his collaborations in the 2022/23 season with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and conducts the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in concerts of the subscription series. He makes his debut with the WDR-Sinfonieorchester and at the Prague Spring Festival. At the symphonic concerts of the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, works by Mahler, Bartók, Messiaen, Stravinsky, Martinů are under his direction on the programme, followed by all four Brahms symphonies. He will conclude his three-part Schubert song cycle with Winterreise, partnering Johannes Kammler.

Alongside the core repertoire (including all Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius symphonies) Cornelius Meister maintains a strong affinity to rarely heard works such as Alexander von Zemlinksky’s ‘Die Seejungfrau’ or works by Martinů and Boulez in his concert programmes and performed numerous world premieres. He has conducted the Concertgebouworkest, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra (New York), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as well as the BR, NDR and SWR radio symphony orchestras. Additionally, he collaborates with ‘La Scintilla’, the period instrument orchestra of the Opernhaus Zürich.

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.

Cornelius Meister, born 1980 in Hannover, studied piano and conducting in Hannover with Konrad Meister, Martin Brauß and Eiji Ōue and at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Dennis Russell Davies, Jorge Rotter and Karl Kamper. From 2005 to 2012 he was Music Director of the Theater und Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg, from 2010 to 2018 Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and from 2017-2020 Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. In 2007 he received an award for the ‘best German concert programme’ and has since also been given several awards for his education projects. 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.

SEASON 2022/2023