Christoph Poppen

Christoph Poppen (born March 9, 1956 in Münster ) is a German conductor and violinist .

Artistic work

Christoph Poppen has made a name for himself in many ways in the international music world as a conductor, soloist, chamber musician and teacher and has won numerous awards. Born in 1956, Christoph Poppen became the conductor and artistic director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra in 1995 , to which he gave a new profile in a very short time. His unmistakable program, which is based on a contrast between classical and contemporary works and a large number of commissioned compositions, received international attention. In August 2006 he took over the position of chief conductor of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra , which he led after the merger with the Kaiserslautern Radio Orchestra from September 2007 under the name Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern until the summer of 2011. The highlight of the first season was an open-air concert with pianist Hélène Grimaud on the island of Mainau.

In addition, Christoph Poppen is in demand as a guest conductor around the world. a. with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra , Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen, Singapore Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic , Turku Philharmonic, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Bamberg Symphony , Düsseldorf Symphony and many others.

Christoph Poppen is married to the soprano Juliane Banse . The couple has three children and lives in Dießen am Ammersee .

Music pedagogue

From 1988 to 1995 he taught as a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and in 1995 accepted an appointment at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin , of which he was Rector from 1996 to 2000. Since 2003 he has been professor for violin and chamber music at the University of Music and Theater in Munich . After five years of service, in 2005 he handed over the artistic direction of the ARD International Music Competition to his successor.

Awards - honors

As a soloist, he has won numerous national and international violin competitions. In 1978 he founded the Cherubini Quartet , with which he won the Grand Prix at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian / France in 1981 as Primarius. In 1984 he received the support award of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for music . This was followed by concerts on almost all major podiums in the world as well as numerous CD, radio and television recordings. His CD and concert project “Morimur” - a recording of the Bach Partita in D minor with the Hilliard Ensemble - is entering its sixth season. In 2010 he was awarded the Saarland Art Prize , which is awarded every two years . The award act took place in early 2011.

Web links

• Works by and about Christoph Poppen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Agency that represented Christoph Poppen (?) ( Memento from January 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive )