Obituary: Famed German Conductor Kai Bumann Passes at 60

By David Salazar

Conductor Kai Bumann passed away on June 2, 2022. He was 60.

Born in 1961 in Berlin, Bumann studied at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin before becoming a repetiteur at the Theater Trier and then the Theater Freiburg. He would become Kapellmeister at the Landestheater Detmold in 1989 and would then become interim General Music Director with the company the following season.

In 1996, he took on the position of General Music Director at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

From there he became Chief conductor of the Opera Krakowska in 1997, eventually taking over the musical directorship of the Warsaw Chamber Opera between 2003 and 2013.

He also held the position of Chief Conductor with the Polish Baltic Philharmonic and was the first guest conductor of the Lodz Philharmonic. He also became artistic director of the Schweizer Jugend-Sinfonie-Orchestra from 1998 until his death this year.

In addition to his work as a conductor, he would also become a professor of conducting with the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music and was named Professor of Art by Polish President Andrzej Duda in 2021.

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