Cornelius Meister
Cornelius Meister has been General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Staatsorchester Stuttgart since 2018. He was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien from 2010 to 2018 as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2020.
His interpretations have received numerous awards, including the Gramophone Award, the International Classical Music Award, the OPUS Klassik as “Conductor of the Year,” the Diapason d’Or, and the German Record Critics’ Award. In 2020, under his direction, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart received the Innovation Prize of the German Orchestra Foundation.
In the last 20 years Meister has conducted leading symphony and radio orchestras across Europe, Asia, and the USA, as well as Zurich’s period ensemble La Scintilla and the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. He has appeared at major venues including the Philharmonie Berlin, Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington, Salzburger Festspiele, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Wiener Musikverein and Wiener Konzerthaus.
Cornelius Meister’s operatic career began at the age of 21 at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, followed soon after by engagements at the Bayerische Staatsoper München. He has appeared regularly at the Wiener Staatsoper since 2012, at Teatro alla Scala Milan since 2015, and at the Metropolitan Opera New York since 2019. In 2022 he attracted international attention when he stepped in at the Bayreuth Festival; the production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen was subsequently released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon and named Best Classical Music Performance 2022 by the New York Times.
Further engagements in this season include returns to the Wiener Staatsoper and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien. As a pianist, he has been invited to perform in the Wiener Philharmoniker’s chamber music cycle. He continues to strengthen his relationships with orchestras in Valencia, Geneva, Strasbourg and Frankfurt, and makes his debuts in Bordeaux, Warsaw and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.
