At a press conference on Monday 12th March, at the Bayerischen Kultusministerium in Munich, it will be formally announced that Vladimir Jurowski will become the next General Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera), succeeding Kirill Petrenko, with his tenure beginning from the 2021/22 season for an initial contract of four seasons.

Jurowski made an impressive debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper conducting Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel in 2015. He will work alongside Serge Dorny, currently the Director of the Opéra National de Lyon, who will take the position of Intendant of the Bayerische Staatsoper also from the 2021/22 season. After beginning his operatic career as Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Jurowski was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, and has established rewarding relationships as a guest conductor at major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Semperoper Dresden, the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow and the Opéra National de Paris, and in 2017 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Wozzeck.

Jurowski stated “I feel incredibly happy and honoured to have been appointed the Music Director of this venerable institution. It is a great responsibility following in the footsteps of my predecessors, as this house has flourished under some of the most distinguished Music Directors. In the last decades, the prestige of the Bayerische Staatsoper rose even higher than before as a result of the brilliant work of the two most recent intendants, Sir Peter Jonas and Nikolaus Bachler, and I am very pleased that I can begin my tenure alongside Serge Dorny who I have known since his years at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and who has been instrumental to the incredible success of the Opéra National de Lyon. Opera is in my DNA, and I could not wish for a better company to realise my operatic dreams than the Bayerische Staatsoper.”

Bavaria’s Minister of Art, Dr Ludwig Spaenle, stated “I am very happy that we were able to win these two highly regarded artists for Munich and that the Bavarian Cabinet has agreed to confirm both appointments. I wish Mr Dorny and Mr Jurowski all the best for their future work as Artistic Director and Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper.”

Jurowski currently maintains a prestigious portfolio of artistic relationships. In addition to being the figurehead, as Artistic Director, of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”, and the George Enescu International Festival, he is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since September 2017. He fully intends to expand his relationship with RSB, which has already garnered strong critical notices, beyond his current contract term (he is contracted to summer 2020) and this will continue alongside his new commitment and future engagements in Munich. He also holds the position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, recently celebrating his 10th anniversary, and will remain in this role until the end of the 2020/21 season, after which he will return regularly as an honoured guest and continue his relationship with the orchestra.

Vladimir Jurowski is a finalist in the Conductor category of the 2018 International Opera Awards; the award ceremony will take place on 9 April. For more information, please visit operaawards.org.