Christian Thielemann

After holding positions at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in Gelsenkirchen, Karlsruhe, Hannover and Düsseldorf, he became General Music Director in Nuremberg in 1988. In 1997, the Berlin-born conductor returned to his home city as General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, before serving in the same position with the Munich Philharmonic from 2004 to 2011.

In addition to his position as chief conductor in Dresden, Thielemann served as artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival from 2013 to 2022 and as musical advisor and music director of the Bayreuth Festival. He works closely with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, whose New Year's Concerts he conducted in 2019 and 2024. Numerous invitations regularly take him to the world's most important orchestras and opera houses.

Christian Thielemann is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary professor at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, and holds honorary doctorates from the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. In 2003, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

Thielemann has received numerous awards for his artistic work, including the Richard Wagner Prize from the Richard Wagner Foundation in Leipzig in 2015, the Prize of the Foundation for the Promotion of the Semperoper in 2016, the Medal of Honour of the Province of Salzburg and the Gold Coat of Arms Medal of the City of Salzburg in 2022, honorary membership and the Ring of Honour of the Vienna State Opera in 2023, honorary membership of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024, and appointment as honorary conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. The Free State of Saxony also awarded him the Saxon Constitutional Medal.

Thielemann is patron of the Richard Wagner sites in Graupa. His extensive discography has won numerous awards and impressively documents the breadth of his musical work.