Gabriel Feltz is one of the most outstanding German conductors with a versatile career in the opera and symphonic repertoire and a great advocate for 19th and 20th century music.
Gabriel Feltz has been the General Music Director of the Dortmund Opera and Chief Conductor of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013/14, with a contract renewal through 2024/25. The Dortmund Opera was named Opera House of the year 2022. He is also Chief Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic, a position he assumed in 2017/18, with contract renewal through 2024/25.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season in Dortmund is the premiere of The Rhinegold and continuation of a new Ring Cycle directed by Peter Konwitschny and a new production of La bohème. Gabriel Feltz will guest conduct a new production at Zurich Opera of Amerika by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and return to the State Opera Prague with a revival of Arrigo Boito Mefistofele. With his Belgrade Philharmonic Gabriel Feltz will open the 23/24 season with Mahler Symphony no 3.
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Recent opera production include a new production of Voyage vers l’Espoir by Christian Jost in Geneva and a new production (Andreas Homoki) of Rosenkavalier at the State Opera Prague. Gabriel Feltz returned to the Cologne Opera for two productions: Erich Wolfgang Korngold Die tote Stadt directed by Tatjana Gürbaca and a new production of Walter Braunfels Die Vögel and conducted a new production of Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza at Komische Oper Berlin.
A very special event marked the Beethoven-marathon, with all nine symphonies performed in a single day by the Dortmund and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras. This event took place at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in June 2022 and in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, designated as the European Capital of Culture in 2022.
The career of Gabriel Feltz as an opera conductor started with a highly successful debut at the Komische Oper Berlin with Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, The Flying Dutchman at the Bavarian State Opera, Arabella at the Oper Frankfurt and a new production of Wolfgang Rihm’s Hamletmaschine in Zurich.
Gabriel Feltz has conducted leading orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, BRSO Munich, DSO Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Frankfurt Opern – und Museumsorchester, Staatskapelle Weimar, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Bamberger Symphoniker, Essen Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin (RSB), Cologne (WDR), Leipzig (MDR), Hamburg & Hannover (NDR) and Saarbrücken (SR), the German National Youth Orchestra BJO, the RSO Vienna, the Danish National Symphony, Sinfonieorchester Basel, RTE National Symphony, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, KBS Seoul, the Osaka Symphony and the China National Symphony.
Gabriel Feltz’s fondness for late Romantic music is well respresented in his extensive discography. In 2021 Dreyer-Gaido released the Complete Mahler Symphonies, which they started recording in 2007 with the Philharmonic Orchestras from Stuttgart and Dortmund. Currently Gabriel Feltz and his Dortmund Philharmonic are recording a Rachmaninov-cycle (in 2020 The Bells and Cinq Etudes-Tableaux). He also recorded Reinhold Gliere’s Symphony No. 3 with the Belgrade Philharmonic. The recording of Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza in Bremen has been awarded the Diapason d´Or. The TV and DVD production of Aida am Rhein under Gabriel Feltz has had outstanding success all over Europe (live on SRF, 3Sat, RAI, ZDF).
Born in Berlin in 1971, Gabriel Feltz studied piano and conducting at the Hans Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. He became Gerd Albrecht´s assistant at the Hamburg State Opera and Kapellmeister in Lübeck and Bremen. In 2001-05 he was GMD in Altenburg-Gera and from 2004-13 GMD of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was awarded the Prix Rachmaninoff from the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation thanks to his extensive Rachmaninov concert cycle. In addition, Gabriel Feltz was principal guest conductor at the Theater Basel (2008- 2013), which was named Opera House of the Year twice during his tenure.
