German conductor Christian Thielemann has been appointed general music director of the Berlin State Opera, stepping into the role after Daniel Barenboim’s resignation in January. He will begin in the role in September 2024, at the end of his engagement as Chief Conductor with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

The Berlin-born Thielemann began his conducting career as repetiteur at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as an assistant to Herbert von Karajan and Barenboim, the latter whom he met at the age of 19. Moving onto positions with the Düsseldorf and Nuremberg opera houses, he became Principal Conductor with the Munich Philharmonic in 2004. He left in 2011, over disagreements over programming with orchestra management. He had left Deutsche Oper in protest under uneven city funding in comparison to Barenboim’s Berlin State Opera.

Though a longstanding rivalry was born here, the two conductors seem to hold no bad blood.

Thielemann is also a regular conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. A staunch Wagnerite, he became its music director between 2015–2020 and the second conductor to helm the ten festival favourite Wagner...