Karl-Heinz Steffens

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Karl-Heinz Steffens
File:Karl-Heinz Steffens © Stefan Wildhirt.jpg
Karl-Heinz Steffens © Stefan Wildhirt
Background information
Born (1961-11-28) 28 November 1961 (age 62)
Trier, Germany
Occupation(s) clarinettist and conductor
Website www.karlheinzsteffens.com

Karl-Heinz Steffens (born 28 November 1961) is a German clarinettist and conductor. He is the Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate).[1] From the 2016-2017 season onwards, Steffens will also take up his new position as Music Director of the Den Norske Opera & Ballett.[2]

Career

Steffens studied clarinet with Ulf Rodenhäuser at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (1982-1985).[3] After his first engagement as clarinettist at the Staatstheater Kassel, Steffens became one of the world’s most highly regarded instrumentalists serving as Principal Clarinet at Frankfurt Opera (1985-1989), of the Bavarian Radio Symphony (1989-1996) and the Berlin Philharmonic (2001-2007) as well as maintaining an active solo career.[3] From 1996 to 1999 he taught at the University of Music and Drama Hanover.[3] In 2001 he was appointed Professor in Clarinet by the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin where he taught until 2008.[3]

In 2007, Steffens relinquished his post as Principal Clarinet of the Berlin Philharmonic[4] and his international solo career to devote himself to conducting and to take up the position as General Music Director of the Staatskapelle and Opera Halle (2007-2013).[5] At the start of the 2009-10 season, he took up a further appointment as Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Ludwigshafen.[1]

The past two seasons have seen his debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic,[6] Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony,[7] Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Danish Radio, Helsinki Philharmonic and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Steffens regularly appears with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Bournemouth Symphony, and the Hallé in the UK, the Bamberg Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, and the Radio Symphony orchestras of Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart. This season Karl-Heinz Steffens will make his debuts with the Teatro Regio in Torino, the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and returns to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Radio France.

Steffens is also a prolific conductor of opera. At the invitation of Daniel Barenboim, Steffens made his debut in 2008 at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden with performances Fidelio, leading to regular annual appearances there with performances of Tosca, La Traviata, The Bartered Bride and this season Ariadne auf Naxos.[8]

In January 2012, Steffens made his debut at La Scala Milan conducting Don Giovanni. This production he also conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. In the following years Steffens returned to Milan with Götterdämmerung and Cosi fan tutte.

In spring 2013, Steffens’ East-West German music theatre project of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (2010-2013)[9] in cooperation with Hansgünther Heyme successfully culminated in performing the complete cycle in both Halle and Ludwigshafen.

In May 2016, Steffens will give his debut performance at the Zürich Opera House with Cosi fan tutte.[10]

Alongside extensive cycles of the symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner, especially his CD recordings with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under the motto “Modern Times”[11] are internationally acclaimed. For the recording of the most important orchestral works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann[12] his orchestra was awarded the ECHO Klassik 2015[13] as “Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year”[13] by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Ring2013 - on Facebook
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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