Anja Bihlmaier

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Anja Bihlmaier's musical intuition, inspiring charisma and ability to combine passion with precision have made her one of the leading conductors of her generation. She has been principal conductor of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag since August 2021.

Numerous debuts await her in the 2023/24 season, including with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg with 2 concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Bergen Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She also returns to the Salzburg Camerata as part of her debut at the Mozartwoche Salzburg and makes her Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in summer 2023.

With a wide-ranging repertoire that includes Haydn, Mahler, Strauss, B.A. Zimmermann to Sibelius, Bartók, Dvořák, Shostakovich, Debussy, Britten, Galina Ustvolskaya and Unsuk Chin, Anja Bihlmaier has recently conducted the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, the BBC Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Finnish Radio Symphony, the Danish National Symphony, the Swedish Radio Symphony and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She returns regularly to the Orquesta y Coro Nacional de España and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.

„…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

A passionate opera conductor, Anja Bihlmaier gained many years of experience through positions at the Hanover State Opera, the Chemnitz Theatre and the Kassel State Theatre. In February 2023 she will conduct Wagner's "Der Fliegende Holländer" in Tampere and Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Norske Opera in Oslo in September. More recently, she has conducted Gounod's "Faust" at Trondheim Opera, Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Malmö Opera and various productions at the Vienna Volksoper, including Henry Mason's acclaimed production of "The Magic Flute" (2020/21).

After studying at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Scott Sandmeier, Anja Bihlmaier was a scholarship holder at the Salzburg Mozarteum and deepened her knowledge with Dennis Russell Davies and Jorge Rotter. She was subsequently accepted into the Conductors' Forum and received a scholarship from the Brahmsgesellschaft Baden-Baden.

2023 / 2024

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Contacts: Katja Hippler, Arnold Simmenauer (Director)