Munich Philharmonic Appoints New Artistic Director 

Florian Wiegand will assume the role as of the 2025/26 concert season

Florian Wiegand currently serves as artistic director of the Salzburg Festival and will be joining the Munich Philharmonic as its new artistic director starting in the fall of 2024, before officially assuming the role in September 2025.

He will succeed Paul Müller, who is retiring after 16 years in the position. With Wiegand and the new incoming chief conductor Lahav Shani, the orchestra will have an entirely new management, BR Klassik reported.

Wiegand studied cultural management and started working with the Salzburg Festival in 2012; in 2016, he took on a leadership and management role in the festival’s media department. 

According to Opera World, Wiegand has been involved with the Konzerthaus Dortmund and established a choir academy. In 2005, he began managing artistic operations and concert planning. 

He is also a jury member for the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award at the Salzburg Festival and has been a regular instructor in the Executive Master in Arts Administration program at the University of Zurich since 2019.

“To be able to help shape the future of this wonderful orchestra now fills me with inspiration and humility,” Wiegand told BR Klassik. 

“With [Wiegand], we will continue to develop exciting and inspiring concerts and events for our Munich audience and around the world,” added clarinetist Alexandra Gruber from the orchestra’s board. “We are looking forward to the beginning of a new era with Florian Wiegand and Lahav Shani at our side.”