“One thing became evident: König has got the makings of a great conductor. We saw a musician who possesses everything: perfect technique, huge musicality and an infallible instinct for formal structures and sound.”
Philharmonica Hungarica
WESTDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG
Christoph König is a conductor of deep intelligence and musicality. His conducting is marked by an energetic and serious approach to musical collaboration and a commitment to thoughtful and stimulating programming. He currently holds positions as Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (2009-14) and Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg. In Porto, he is currently conducting a Mahler cycle, which included a performance of Symphony No. 1 at the Vienna Konzerthaus last season, followed by tours in Brazil (July 2011) and northern Europe (October 2011).
Last season, Mr. König’s U.S. debut with the New Jersey Symphony resulted in an immediate re-engagement. This season, he will also appear with the symphonies of Colorado, Houston, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Toronto and Vancouver. Worldwide, he has appeared with the Barcelona Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony (including a highly successful tour of China in 2008), Mozarteum Orchestra/Salzburg, Netherlands Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Oslo, Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, Real Filharmónia de Galicia, RTVE/Madrid and the Tonkünstler Orchestra/Vienna, as well as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Christoph König has also been Principal Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria. With both orchestras he conducted a wide range of repertoire from Haydn and Mozart to Ligeti, Henze and Turnage. With the Malmö Symphony, he conducted concert performances of Madama Butterfly and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. His reputation as an opera conductor rose swiftly after stepping in at short notice to successfully direct the Zürich Opera’s 2003 production of Jonathan Miller’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He has also led the Zurich Opera in productions of Die Zauberflöte and Il Turco in Italia with Cecilia Bartoli and Ruggero Raimondi. Other operatic productions include Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Teatro Real/Madrid, Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper/Stuttgart and Die Zauberflöte and Rigoletto at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
For the Ao Vivo label, Christoph König has recorded works by Schoenberg, Prokofiev, Saariaho and Sibelius with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto. For Hyperion, he has recorded a highly acclaimed CD of music by Henryk Melcer, with pianist Jonathan Plowright and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the same orchestra was featured on the front cover of BBC Music Magazine in September 2009. Other noteworthy recordings include Beethoven symphonies with the Malmö Symphony (DB Productions), and Prokofiev and Mozart with the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg (SEL Classics).
Christoph König was born in Dresden, where he sang as a boy soprano in the famous Dresdner Kreuzchor. He later studied conducting, as well as piano and voice, at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden. Mr. König also participated in masterclasses given by such renowned conductors as Sergiu Celibidache and Sir Colin Davis, who subsequently invited him to be his assistant for both concerts and opera productions with the Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden.
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