Karl-Heinz Steffens

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Karl-Heinz Steffens (born November 28, 1961 in Trier ) is a German conductor and clarinetist . Since autumn 2019 he has been music director at the Prague State Opera .

Life

Karl-Heinz Steffens studied clarinet from 1982 to 1985 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart with Ulf Rodenhäuser. After his first engagement as a clarinetist at the Staatstheater Kassel , he played as principal clarinetist at the Frankfurt Opera (1985–1989), for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1989–1996) and for the Berlin Philharmonic (2001–2007) and also followed a solo career. From 1996 to 1999 Steffens taught at the Hanover University of Music and Theater . In 2001 he was appointed professor of clarinet by the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin and taught there until 2008.

In 2001, on his initiative, the “Friedberger Musiksommer” was set up in the old Bavarian ducal town of Friedberg , which has been organized by the “Citizens for Friedberg” on a voluntary basis ever since.

During his time as principal clarinetist with the Berliner Philharmoniker , Simon Rattle commissioned the German composer Christian Jost with a clarinet concerto ( Heart of Darkness ) for the Berliner Philharmoniker and Karl-Heinz Steffens. Karl-Heinz Steffens worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel , Kurt Masur , Sir Colin Davis and Jörg-Peter Weigle . In the crossover area , he presented two albums with David Gazarov .

After Steffens ended his activity as principal clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2007, he was appointed General Music Director of the Staatskapelle Halle and Artistic Director of the Opera House during the current season (2007-2013). From the beginning of the 2009/2010 season to 2018, he took over as chief conductor and general music director of the German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate . In the 2016/2017 season, Karl-Heinz Steffens was also music director of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Den Norske Opera & Ballet .

On the international stage he conducted a. a. the Berlin Philharmonic , the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra , the Munich Philharmonic , the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra , the Vienna Symphony and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra . He has also made guest appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony , Bournemouth Symphony , and Hallé Orchestra as well as with the Radio Symphony Orchestras in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig and Stuttgart.

In the 2015/16 season Steffens made his debut with the Orchestra del Teatro Regio , the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Florence. He was re -invited to the Orchester Philharmonique de Radio France and Orchester Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, while this season he again worked with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin , the Dresden Philharmonie , the Helsinki Philharmonic , the Netherlands Philharmonic and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale . In 2016/17 he also made his debuts with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI Turin and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Antwerp. Steffens is a regular guest at the Philharmonia in London; there he also conducted a cycle of Brahms symphonies and his German Requiem .

Karl-Heinz Steffens is also an opera conductor. He has already made several guest appearances at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, to which he returned with Fidelio in winter 2018 .

In January 2012 Steffens made his debut with Don Giovanni at La Scala in Milan and also conducted this production at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. In the following years he returned to Milan with Wagner's Götterdämmerung and Mozart's Così fan tutte .

Initiated and musically directed by Steffens, a new production of the Ring des Nibelungen by Hansgünther Heyme could be experienced on both stages in Halle and Ludwigshafen from 2010 to 2013 .

At the end of May 2016, Karl-Heinz Steffens made his debut at the Zurich Opera House with Mozart's Così fan tutte.

In his position as music director of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Steffens has performed with Così fan tutte , Fidelio , Pelléas et Mélisande and Tosca .>.

In addition to extensive cycles of symphonies by Beethoven , Schubert and Bruckner , his CD recordings with the German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate under the motto “Modern Times” are particularly worth mentioning.

For the recording of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's most important orchestral works , his orchestra received the ECHO Klassik 2015 as "Orchestra of the Year" from the German Phono Academy . It was awarded the prize for the best concert program of the 2016/17 season by the German Music Publishers Association (DMV).

On January 5, 2020, he conducted the gala concert for the reopening of the Prague State Opera after many years of renovation

honors and awards

literature

  • Berliner Philharmoniker: Variations with Orchestra - 125 Years of the Berliner Philharmoniker , Volume 2, Biographies and Concerts, Verlag Henschel, May 2007, ISBN 978-3-89487-568-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Karl-Heinz Steffens . Národní divadlo Praha. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d Karl-Heinz Steffens, conductor . The Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv-Yafo. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ Principal clarinet with the Berlin Philharmonic . Karl-Heinz Steffens. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ artist . Friedberg Music Summer. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  5. ↑ General music director of the Staatskapelle and Halle Opera . Karl-Heinz Steffens. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  6. ^ "German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate"> chief conductor of the German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate . German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 1, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatsphilharmonie.de
  7. ↑ Press release Den Norske Opera & Ballet . Den Norske Opera & Ballet. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  8. ↑ Press release German State Philharmonic News . German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 11, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatsphilharmonie.de
  9. ^ Berliner Philharmoniker: Karl-Heinz Steffens conducts Beethoven, Zimmermann and Schubert . Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  10. ↑ BRSO: Karl-Heinz Steffens conducts instead Franz Welser-Möst . BRSO. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  11. ^ Poetry and precision: Karl-Heinz Steffens makes his debut at the podium of the Wiener Symphoniker in the Musikverein . Magazine of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 14, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikverein.at
  12. ↑ Ring2013 - on Facebook
  13. ^ Zurich Opera House: Karl-Heinz Steffens makes his debut at Zurich Opera House with Cosi fan tutte . Zurich Opera House. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 14, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.opernhaus.ch
  14. ^ MODERN TIMES German State Philharmonic Rhineland-Palatinate Karl-Heinz Steffens . Capriccio, Deutschlandradio Kultur, German State Philharmonic Rhineland-Palatinate. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 25, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.capriccio.at
  15. ^ Bernd Alois Zimmermann orchestral works by the German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate Karl-Heinz Steffens . Capriccio, Deutschlandradio Kultur, German State Philharmonic Rhineland-Palatinate. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ a b Echo Klassik Prize Winner 2015 Ensemble / Orchestra of the Year . Bundesverband Musikindustrie eV. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  17. ↑ [1]
  18. ↑ Fame and Honor . SWR. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Steffens, Karl-Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor and clarinetist
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH trier