Christoph Konig's fiery enthusiasm made for an eye-opening performance of Beethoven's Symphony No 3, Eroica. He kept the orchestra going with considerable elan in the opening movement, yet never too fast for the expansiveness of Beethoven's melodies, or to allow details of the instrumentation to speak for themselves. … He brought a welcome lightness to the overall texture of the slow movement and he allowed the "hunting" horns their full glory in the scherzo. Above all, he reinvigorated the symphony and made it sound fresh and alive. Christoph König is a conductor of deep intelligence and musicality. He currently holds positions as the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Nacional do Porto and as Principal Guest Conductor of the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg. His conducting is marked by an energetic and serious approach to musical collaboration and a commitment to thoughtful and stimulating programming. His second season in Porto is marked by performances of Mahler’s first three symphonies and large-scale works by Bruckner, Strauss and Ravel as well as a significant element of contemporary repertoire including works by Henze, Saariaho and Pintscher. König is in demand as a guest conductor throughout Europe. The 2009/2010 season sees him work with orchestras around Europe including the Mozarteum Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orkester, Real Filharmoniá de Galicia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica y Coro RTVE and the Vilabertran Schubertiada. König has also worked with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. In May of 2008 he led a highly successful tour of China with the BC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Christoph König was Principal Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra from 2003 until 2006. During this time König was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria. With both orchestras he has conducted a wide range of repertoire from Haydn and Mozart to Ligeti, Henze and Turnage. He also conducted opera in concert with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, including Madama Butterfly and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. His reputation as an opera conductor has risen swiftly after stepping in at short notice to successfully direct the Zürich Opera’s 2003 production of Jonathan Miller’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He has also led the Zürich opera in productions of Die Zauberflöte and Il Turco in Italia with Cecilia Bartoli and Ruggero Raimondi. König has also conducted a production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart and Die Zauberflöte and Rigoletto at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. A CD of music by Henryk Melcer, with Jonathan Plowright and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for Hyperion was released last season, and received good reviews. His recording of Brahms’ First Piano Concert with the same orchestra featured on the front cover of BBC Music Magazine in September 2009. König was born in Dresden, where he sang as a boy soprano in the celebrated Dresdner Kreuzchor. He studied conducting, as well as piano and singing, at the Dresdner Musikhochschule. His early work as a conductor took him to masterclasses given by, amongst others, Sergiu Celibidache, and Sir Colin Davis, by whom he was invited to work as assistant conductor for both concerts and opera productions with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. He began his professional career as Erster Kapellmeister in Wuppertal/Gelsenkirchen. |