(Photo: Lutz Edelhoff)

Joana Mallwitz will lead Konzerthausorchester Berlin as its new Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, replacing Christoph Eschenbach. Mallwitz is scheduled to assume the role at the start of the 2023-24 season.

Since 2018-19, Mallwitz has served as General Music Director at Nuremberg State Theatre, where she won Conductor of the Year in 2019. At the 2020 Salzburg Festival, Mallwitz made history as the first female conductor to lead a new production (“Così fan tutte”), along with several other performances.

The conductor began her career at Theater Erfurt during the 2014-15 season. While there, she founded the Orchestra’s Orchestra Academy and composer-in-residence program.

Mallwitz’s recent opera engagements have included appearances at Bavarian State Opera (“Eugene Onegin” and “L’elisir d’amore”), the Frankfurt Opera (“Salome” and “The Merry Widow”), the Royal Danish Opera (“The Flying Dutchman” and “Madama Butterfly”), the Norwegian National Opera Oslo (“Der Rosenkavalier”) and the Zürich Opera House (“Macbeth”). This year, Mallwitz is scheduled to have her Semperoper Dresden debut with a new production of “Rusalka.”

“There is an incredible power and dynamism in Joana Mallwitz’s conducting. She already casts a spell during concentrated rehearsals. In talking to her about the future of classical music, her great dedication and enthusiasm for music education quickly made her the candidate of choice. I am very happy that she will be joining us in Berlin,” said General Director Sebastian Nordmann in a statement released by the Orchestra.