Vienna Volksoper Announces New Music Director 

The British conductor Ben Glassberg assumed the role in January 2024

Ben Glassberg began his tenure as music director of Austria’s Vienna Volksoper on January 1, 2024. Succeeding Omer Meir Wellber in the role, he was previously the opera house’s principal guest conductor.

Glassberg is currently the music director of the Opéra de Rouen Normandie and was former associate guest conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon. From 2019 to 2021, he served as principal conductor of the Glyndebourne Tour.

His recent and upcoming performances include his house debuts at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and conducting productions of Carmen, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie.

Glassberg’s symphonic highlights of this season include a debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and a return to the Teatro Massimo di Palermo.

In his new role at the Vienna Volksoper, Glassberg will conduct the premieres of West Side Story on January 27, 2024, and Die lustige Witwe on March 2, 2024.

“I am over the moon to be taking up the role of Music Director at my beloved Volksoper,” Glassberg said in the press release. “I have never felt such energy and warmth in a theatre before and am inspired by my colleagues on a daily basis. This house is such an exciting place to be at the moment and I cannot wait to continue building its future with Lotte de Beer and the amazing team.»

“Ben and Volksoper are a match made in heaven on so many levels: His broad musical taste which spans from musical theater to Wagner and everything in between, is an ideal match for the diverse genres we perform in this house,” said Volksoper’s director Lotte de Beer. “In his music making he is both meticulously demanding about every little detail, and bold in his fresh and daring approach. At the same time his deeply personal way of connecting with every member of this opera house is a truly inspiring kind of leadership which is exactly what fits our Volksoper family.”