Hartmut Haenchen

Hartmut Haenchen was born in Dresden in 1943, in the former East Germany. He consolidated his musical experiences not only with the orchestras of the GDR but, despite the severe restrictions of the regime, also with famous Western orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

In 1986, he moved to the Netherlands, where he was appointed Music Director of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Opera. Over the next 13 years, he conducted a wide range of works by Strauss, Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Gluck, Handel, Berg, Reimann Shostakovich, and Mussorgsky. His Ring directed by Pierre Audi (also available on CD and DVD) was a great success, and was revived in 2013 to celebrate Wagner's bicentenary.

Particularly renowned and acclaimed for his interpretations of Richard Strauss, Wagner, and Mahler, he collaborates with leading orchestras worldwide.
2016 saw his debut at Bayreuth, where his conducting of Parsifal (repeated in 2017) earned him acclaim from audiences and the international press.
Notable productions include Strauss's Daphne and Elektra and Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Lohengrin at the Teatro Real Madrid, Der fliegende Holländer at the Muziektheater Amsterdam and Teatro alla Scala, Parsifal at the Royal Danish Opera, Salome and Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera London, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mzsensk (winner of the French Critics' Grand Prix), Berg's Wozzeck at the Opéra National de Paris, and a new production of Parsifal at La Monnaie, winner of the 2010 Prix de l'Europe Francophone and a French Critics' Grand Prix.
Hartmut Haenchen has made over 130 recordings with various orchestras; the DVD released by ICA Classic featuring Mahler's Sixth Symphony was awarded the Diapason d'Or.
In addition to his conducting work, he is the author of various musical texts, including seminal essays on Wagner and Mahler.
In 2008, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit of the German Republic, in 2017 he was named Conductor of the Year by the prestigious magazine Opernwelt, and in 2018 he received the Richard Wagner Prize in Leipzig.
In Italy, he conducted Die Schöpfung in Rome with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Santa Cecilia; The Flying Dutchman at La Scala, Salomé at the Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari (2023), concerts in Naples and Ravello with the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo, in Pisa and Pordenone with the Haydn Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano, as well as numerous concerts in Turin with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Teatro Regio, at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Auditorium "G. Agnelli" in Turin, the Teatro Manzoni in Bologna, and the Teatro Verdi in Trieste.
As part of the Anima Mundi Festival, he conducted Verdi's Requiem in Pisa Cathedral in 2022.
In the last season, he intensified his symphonic activity, conducting primarily concerts in major European cities.