Kirill Petrenko named Opera Conductor of the Year

Kirill Petrenko, chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, has been named “Conductor of the Year” by Opernwelt magazine. This is in recognition of performances of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, which Kirill Petrenko and the orchestra presented at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival in April 2022.

The Opernwelt citation states: “Petrenko is not a magician, he is a conductor. As such, he combines the good old Russian school of a Yevgeny Mravinsky with the achievements that emerged from the dazzling Berliner Philharmoniker lineage of Bülow-Furtwängler-Karajan. Petrenko questions pathos and cliché, meticulously structures the tonal processes, motivates climaxes from inner-musical development, never from superficial theatrical considerations, in short: analysis and auratic interpenetration are happily combined in his work.” This is the sixth time that Kirill Petrenko has been named "Conductor of the Year" by the Opernwelt jury.

A recording of Pique Dame from Baden-Baden is available in the Arte media library.

Recording in the Arte media library

The staged production at the Easter Festival was followed by concert performances at the Philharmonie Berlin, which are available in the Digital Concert Hall.

Recording in the Digital Concert Hall

The opera productions with Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival will continue in 2023 with Richard Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten. Advance booking has already begun.

“Die Frau ohne Schatten” at the Easter Festival