Konzerthausorchester Berlin Announces Chief Conductor 

German conductor Joanna Mallwitz will assume the role for five seasons, effective as of the ensemble’s 2023-24 season

Mallwitz will succeed Christoph Eschenbach in the position and will also serve as the orchestra’s artistic director. 

In the 2020-21 season, Mallwitz worked with Konzerthausorchester Berlin in two broadcasted concert projects, performing Schubert's Symphony in C major, Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, and Mozart's "Magic Flute" overture.

Until recently, Mallwitz held the role of music director of the Nuremberg State Philharmonic and made history at the 2020 Salzburg Festival as the first female conductor to lead a new production — Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”

Earlier this year she and her husband, German tenor Simon Bode, announced that they are expecting their first child in October 2021. She will return to the stage after her maternity leave. 

A graduate of the University of Music and Theatre in Hanover, she studied conducting with Martin Brauß and Eiji Oue and piano with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Bernd Goetzke.

“I am greatly looking forward to working with the Konzerthausorchester, whose musicians I have had the opportunity to get to know over two wonderful projects as modern-thinking, musically joyful, explorative and extremely approachable personalities,” Mallwitz said in the press release.

“Coupled with the exciting and inspiring history of the venue, the beauty of the orchestral sound and the wonderful team under General Director Sebastian Nordmann, one couldn’t wish for better prerequisites as a conductor,” she continued.

“There is an incredible power and dynamism in Joana Mallwitz’s conducting,” added Nordmann. “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,” he said. “I am very happy that she will be joining us in Berlin.”