CorneliusBiography
Cornelius Meister began his tenure as Music Director of the Staatsoper und Staatsorchester Stuttgart in 2018. The awards that he has received in recent years include the OPUS Klassik in the category ‘Conductor of the Year’, the International Classical Music Award in the category ‘Symphonic Recordings’ for the complete recording of Bohuslav Martinů’s symphonies, and the Diapason d’or and the German Record Critics’ award for the DVD ‘Jules Massenet: Werther’ (Opernhaus Zürich).
In the 2020/21 concert season, Cornelius Meister continues his collaboration with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonie and the NDR Radiophilharmonie and make his debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. As an opera conductor, he conducts productions at the Vienna State Opera ("Hänsel and Gretel", "Die Fledermaus", "Lohengrin"), at the Metropolitan Opera New York ("Die Zauberflöte ") and debuts at the Opéra National de Paris (also with "Die Zauberflöte").
Following the Schumann and Beethoven cycles of the previous season, Cornelius Meister and the Stuttgarter Staatsorchester perform all Brahms symphonies in 2020/21 and continue their Mahler cycle. In addition, Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" and Salvatore Sciarrino's "Luci mie traditrici" as well as scenic versions of Mahler's "Lied von der Erde" and Bach's “Johannespassion” are on the programme of the Stuttgarter Staatsoper. The opera and its Music Director will also be touring their production of “Don Giovanni”. As a pianist, Cornelius Meister is present in the Lieder recital and chamber music series.
In his concerts Cornelius Meister not only performs the core repertoire (including all Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius symphonies), but also rarely heard works and numerous world premieres. He has conducted the Concertgebouworkest, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra (New York), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome) and Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as well as the BR, NDR and SWR radio symphony orchestras. Additionally, he cooperates with ‘La Scintilla’, the period instrument orchestra of the Opernhaus Zürich.
Cornelius Meister made his debut at the Hamburgische Staatsoper at the age of 21, followed by engagements at the Bayerische Staatsoper München, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, New National Theatre (Tokyo), San Francisco Opera, The Royal Danish Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Since 2012 he has been conducting at the Wiener Staatsoper, since 2015 at the Teatro alla Scala Milan and since 2019 at the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Cornelius Meister, born 1980 in Hannover, studied piano and conducting in Hannover with Konrad Meister, Martin Brauß and Eiji Ōue and at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Dennis Russell Davies, Jorge Rotter and Karl Kamper. From 2005 to 2012 he was Music Director of “Theater und Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg”, from 2010 to 2018 Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien and from 2017 to 2020 Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. In 2007 he received an award for the ‘best German concert programme’ and has since also been given several awards for his education projects. He has appeared as a pianist in Europe and the United States and has led piano concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Liszt and Gershwin, as well as Arvo Pärt’s ‘Credo’ from the keyboard.
Season 2020/21
