Gabriel Feltz Appointed Music Director at Germany's Oper Kiel

Gabriel Feltz has been named Music Director of Germany's Oper Kiel, Opera Wire reports.  Feltz has served as the General Music Director of the Dortmund Opera and Chief Conductor of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013/14, and is also Chief Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic, a position he assumed in 2017/18.

Read the original story on Opera Wire.

About Gabriel Fetz

Gabriel Feltz is one of the most interesting conductors of the middle generation. On the one hand, he has worked passionately in Germany as general music director for over 20 years, and on the other hand, he makes guest appearances all over the world, is a sought-after opera and concert conductor, can point to one of the most extensive discographies of the last two decades and also continually surprises his audience with completely unique projects. His repertoire is huge and if you want to get to know very specific aspects of his skills, performances by the artist with works by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alban Berg, Walter Braunfels, Arnold Schönberg or Reinhold Glière are recommended.

Gabriel Feltz has been GMD of the city of Dortmund and chief conductor of the Dortmund Philharmonic since the 2013/2014 season and at the same time chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic (Beogradska Filharmonija) from 2017/2018.

The artist began the 2022/2023 season with a spectacular premiere of Luigi Nono's "Intolleranza 1960" at the Komische Oper Berlin (directed by Marco Storman), which was widely recognized in Europe. Gabriel Feltz is currently making his debut at the Prague State Opera with a premiere of “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss (directed by Andreas Homoki). There will be 2 more opera premieres this season - the continuation of the Ring cycle together with Peter Konwitschny ("Siegfried" - premiere on May 20th, 2023) and "Voyage vers l'espoir" by Christian Jost at the Geneva Opera / Orchester de la Suisse Romande (Premiere March 28, 2023, directed by Kornel Mondruczo)

As the highlight of the last season, Gabriel Feltz conducted all 9 Beethoven symphonies in one day, with the two orchestras he leads taking turns. This musical marathon took place in Germany and Serbia, with a total of more than 15,000 spectators taking part.

At 51 years old, Gabriel Feltz is one of the longest-serving general music directors, as he has held this position with great energy for over 20 years. After studying at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin (1989-1994), he assisted Gerd Albrecht at the Hamburg State Opera for a year. This was followed by positions as bandmaster in Lübeck and Bremen.

During Gabriel Feltz's first GMD position at the Altenburg-Gera Philharmonic Orchestra (2001-2005), he was the youngest incumbent GMD in Germany. He headed the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra for almost ten years and conducted a total of over 350 performances there. This period is considered one of the most successful in the history of this ensemble. In 2007, the Stuttgart Philharmonic with Gabriel Feltz received the Prix Rachmaninov from the Sergei Rachmaninov Foundation - in recognition of the most extensive performance cycle of Rachmaninov's works in German-speaking countries to date. From 2008 to the summer of 2013, Feltz was also first guest conductor at the Theater Basel, which was twice named “Opera House of the Year” during this time (2008/09 and 2009/10). The productions directed by Gabriel Feltz played a significant role in this.

Gabriel Feltz's career as an opera conductor continued to receive international attention when he made his triumphant debut at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2014 with "The Soldiers" by Bernd Alois Zimmermann. In the following years he conducted regularly at the opera houses of Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich (Bavarian State Opera) and others. The artist has a particularly close collaboration with the Cologne Opera and the Gürzenich Orchestra. In the 2020/2021 season alone he directed two premieres there (“The Birds” by Walter Braunfels and “The Tote City” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold), with the latter production taking place exactly 100 years to the day after the premiere of this work at the same location took place.

In the concert sector, Gabriel Feltz has conducted over 60 different orchestras worldwide, the most important of which are: Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian State Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra, RSO Vienna, KBS Seoul, Osaka Symphony, DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Opera House and Museum Orchestra , Bamberg Symphony, Taiwan National SO, Beijing Symphony, Danish National SO, Basel and Bern Symphony Orchestra and many others.

In 2022, after 15 years of intensive work with Gabriel Feltz, the CD label Dreyer-Gaido released the complete recording of all of Gustav Mahler's symphonies. This cycle received excellent reviews and ratings worldwide. The artist's entire discography includes more than 25 titles on CD and DVD, with a repertoire ranging from Mozart to Nono.

About Oper Kiel

The opera house, built between 1905 and 1907, stands next to the town hall in the heart of the state capital Kiel and is the big stage in the north. The building was badly damaged in the Second World War and rebuilt in the early 1950s. The interior design in the “new modern” style of the time is a listed building.

The brick-red Art Nouveau building has a variety of play options and the latest lighting and sound technology with computer-controlled lower and upper machinery and a revolving stage.

The Kiel Opera House offers space for around 750 spectators and is popular for its wide-ranging program, from baroque opera to canonical works of musical theater, musicals and operettas, as well as the ballet performances of its own company. Secondary venues such as the foyers or the Klaiber Studio (orchestra rehearsal hall) are often used for more experimental music theater productions as well as for chamber concerts.

Photo Credit: Oper Kiel