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Anja Bihlmaier’s musical intuition, charisma, and passion allied with precision make her one of the leading conductors of her generation. She has been Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest since August 2021 and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic starting September 2024.
In 24/25 she conducts the Munich Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie, WDR Cologne, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Bergen Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Seattle and Toronto symphonies, Spanish National and Orquesta da Galicia. She returns to the National Symphony in Dublin for Mahler 9 and takes the Residentie Orkest to Bonn for the start of her three-year residency at the Beethovenfest. In June 2025 she will conduct at the Berlin State Opera (new production).
Following her BBC Proms debut in 2023 she returns in 2024, again with the BBC Philharmonic but also bringing Glyndebourne’s production of Carmen after performances at the main festival throughout August. Notable debuts in the past season have included: London Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Mahler Chamber, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony orchestras and at the Salzburg Mozartwoche.
Bihlmaier has a wide-ranging repertoire that includes Haydn, Mahler, Strauss, B.A. Zimmermann to Sibelius, Bartók, Dvořák, Shostakovich, Debussy, Britten, Galina Ustvolskaya and Unsuk Chin.
„…This was one of the most unsettling performances of this work that I have heard and it made me hear this symphony in a new light. Even at its most light-hearted, in the third movement, there was “always the feeling that things could spin out of control”, to quote the excellent online notes. And yet there was plenty of fun and high spirits as well, sitting alongside more serious matters but never overwhelmed by them. The playing of the BBC Philharmonic this evening was outstanding.”Peter Connors / Bachtrack.com
Bihlmaier gained many years of experience through positions in Hanover, Chemnitz and Kassel, also guest conducting at the Vienna Volksoper and across Scandinavia, notably in Malmo (Midsummer Night’s Dream), Trondheim (Faust), Tampere (Fliegender Hollaender) and Oslo (La Traviata).
After studying at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Scott Sandmeier, Bihlmaier was awarded a scholarship at the Salzburg Mozarteum and went on to study with Dennis Russell Davies and Jorge Rotter. She was accepted into the Deutsche Dirigentenforum and received a scholarship from the Brahmsgesellschaft Baden-Baden.
2024 / 2025
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Contacts: Arnold Simmenauer, Juliane Scotney