Christoph Poppen

Conductor, soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue: in the international musical world Christoph Poppen has made a name for himself in diverse forms, winning many awards.

Music Director: Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Principal Conductor: Kölner Kammerorchester
Artistic Director: Marvão International Music Festival
Principal Guest Conductor: Israel Chamber Orchestra

From the outset of his conducting career, the name of Christoph Poppen has been internationally recognised and synonymous for innovative and original programming and commitment across all genres of classical music. A frequent guest conductor, he has worked with orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Wiener Symphoniker, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, New Japan Philharmonic, and also enjoys longstanding artistic relationships with important orchestras such as Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra, to name just a few.

In the 2023/24 season, Christoph Poppen continues his highly successful collaborations with the Kölner Kammerorchester in his role as Principal Conductor, as Principal Guest Conductor of Israel Chamber Orchestra and as newly appointed Music Director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Other highlights include an engagement at InClassica Music Festival Dubai with Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, a return visit to Münchener Kammerorchester where he has been Music Director from 1995 – 2006, and the continuation of his recorded cycle of the complete Mozart Masses with Kölner Kammerorchester for Naxos.

In the field of opera, he very successfully led a production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Aalto Theatre in Essen and performances of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide at Staatsoper Stuttgart. In 2016 he returned to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa for a production of Don Giovanni. He conducted performances of Les pêcheurs de perles at Oper Frankfurt – which led to an immediate re-invitation for Die Zauberflöte – and created the new production of Sing For Me, Death by composer Claude Vivier with the RuhrTriennale company in Gelsenkirchen. In 2017 he conducted Weber’s Oberon in concert version at Opera Köln.

Over the years, Christoph Poppen has held a number of significant Directorships in Germany. From 1995 to 2006, he was Artistic Director of the Münchener Kammerorchester, establishing the ensemble’s new profile in a short period of time. His distinctive programmes, based on a contrast of classical and contemporary music with many commissioned works, met with huge success. In August 2006, he was appointed Music Director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken, and from 2007 until 2011 he was the Music Director of the newly formed Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern.

Under his artistic leadership the Festival Internacional de Música de Marvão (Portugal) has grown to become a highly successful and award-winning musical happening featuring soloists such as Jörg Widmann, Augustin Hadelich, Javier Perianes and Clara-Jumi Kang. Between 2020 and 2022 he was also Artistic Director of the Classic Revolution Festival in Seoul, South Korea, for which he curated highly inventive programmes and united many of the best international artists from Korea and the West, for performances exclusively at the Lotte Concert Hall.

Christoph Poppen has been Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, and later at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he was President from 1996 through 2000. From 2001 through to 2005, Christoph Poppen was Artistic Director of the renowned ARD International Music Competition. Since 2003, he has held a post as professor for Violin and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. In 2019, he founded the International Academy for Music, Arts and Science in Marvão/Portugal, and since the 2021/22 academic year, Chair Professor of Violin at the prestigious Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.

HarrisonParrott represents Christoph Poppen for worldwide general management.

“Under experienced German conductor Christoph Poppen the Danish National Symphony Orchestra give a terrifically disciplined yet adrenalised account of these highly demanding scores… A compelling disc, all told, for every bold-leaning lover of big-sounding symphonies.”

(Musicweb International, August 2013)

“It’s been an interesting first season for the impressively named Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern… The most solid connecting factor was the Music Director, Christoph Poppen, whose contract with the Philharmonie has been renewed until 2011.”

(Gig, November 2008)

“Christoph Poppen conducts with a flowing baton.”

(The Times, May 2008)

“Soprano Juliane Banse is perfectly suited to such vocal writing, and under Christoph Poppen, the strings of the German Radio Philharmonic sound wonderfully lustrous.”

(The Guardian, April 2008)