Christoph Poppen

At the beginning of 2007/08 the renowned German conductor began his tenure as Principal Conductor of the new German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the first season of the orchestra. In August 2006, Christoph Poppen was appointed Principal Conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken and therefore had the role of overseeing and artistically guiding the merger of his orchestra with the Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern. He will continue his position as Principal Conductor of the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra until 2011. From 1995 to 2006 he was Artistic Director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to his position as Principal Conductor, Christoph Poppen is also a frequent guest conductor of most of the world’s finest orchestras. In the season 2010/11 he will conduct the Berner Symphonieorchester, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, amongst others. A productive collaboration with the Tirolean Landestheater Innsbruck has lead to many successful opera projects like Mozart’s “Zauberflöte” and “La clemenza di Tito” as well as a concert performance of Rossini’s “Othello” and Strauss’ “Arabella”. Summer 2006 saw him conduct the Munich Chamber Orchestra in concertante performances of Mozart’s “La Betulia Liberata” at Salzburg Festival. In 2009 he conducted the concertante performance of Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” with Frankfurt Opera as well as the new scenic production “Sing für mich, Tod” about composer Claude Vivier at the Ruhrtriennale in Gelsenkirchen.

Christoph Poppen’s extensive discography covers works by composers such as Tigran Mansurian, Sofia Gubaidulina, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Frank Martin, Giacinto Scelsi, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. After recording the complete Mendelssohn symphonies in 2008 Christoph Poppen and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie are currently recording the complete Tchaikovsky symphonies.

Christoph Poppen was appointed professor for Violin and Chamber Music at the “Hochschule für Musik” in Detmold and later at the “Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik” in Berlin, where he was President from 1996 through 2000. From 2000 through 2005 Christoph Poppen was Artistic Director of the renowned ARD International Music Competition. Since 2003 Christoph Poppen is professor for Violin and Chamber Music at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater” in Munich.

May 2010
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