Season Preview: Markus Stenz

German conductor Markus Stenz is known for his vibrant, masterful musical interpretations; the breadth of his artistry has placed him in international standing as a prized collaborator and passionate performer, especially of German orchestral music, and of operatic scores. Stenz has appeared at many of the world’s major opera houses and international festivals including La Scala in Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, the Bregenz Festival (with the world premiere of Solaris by Detlev Glanert in July 2012) and Salzburg Festival. Since his debut as an opera conductor at La Fenice in Venice, he has conducted many world premieres and first performances including Henze’s Das Verratene Meer in Berlin, Venus und Adonis at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and L’Upupa at the 2003 Salzburg Festival. Most recently, Stenz conducted the world premiere of the highly anticipated Fin de Partie by Hungarian composer György Kurtág at La Scala in November, 2018. Critics around the world were enamored with the score and his performances in Milan and Amsterdam. About this collaboration, The New York Times remarked: “Glistening and nimble, the Scala orchestra is conducted by Markus Stenz, who leads an exceptionally delicate score — its balances and pauses fragile and exposed — with naturalness and a sense of spontaneity.”

Stenz has held a number of high-profile positions with international orchestras and opera houses including Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2012-2019), Principal Guest Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2015-2019), and Conductor-in-Residence of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (2016-2019). Stenz will make his conducting debuts with the New Jersey and Detroit Symphony Orchestras this season in programs that feature solosists Juho Pohjonen and Alexander Gavrylyuck, performing works by Rebel, Grieg, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Busoni, and Scriabin. In August 2019, he returns to the Aspen Music Festival to conduct the Aspen Chamber Symphony with violinist Sergey Khachatryan and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in a program that includes Chabrier’s España, rhapsody, Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, and Bizet’s Carmen Suite. In Fall 2019, Stenz leads a program of Mozart and Bruckner with the Indianapolis Symphony.

Friday, August 2, 2019 at 6:00PM
Aspen Music Festival - Benedict Music Tent

Aspen Chamber Symphony
Markus Stenz, conductor
Sergey Khachatryan, violin
Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano

CHABRIER España, rhapsody
KHACHATURIAN Violin Concerto
RAVEL Shéhérazade
BIZET Carmen Suite

Thursday, October 24, 2019 at 11:15AM
Friday, October 25, 2019 at 8:00PM
Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 5:30PM
Hilbert Circle Theater

Markus Stenz, conductor
Indianapolis Symphony

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4; "Romantic"

Thursday, October 31, 2019 at 7:30PM - Bergen Performing Arts Center
Friday, November 1, 2019 at 8:00PM - Princeton University Richardson Auditorium
Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 8:00PM - Count Basie Center for the Performing Arts (Red Bank)
Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 3:00PM - New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark)

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz, conductor
Juho Pohjonen, piano

REBEL "Chaos" from les elemens
GRIEG Piano Concerto
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Friday, April 17, 2020 at 8:00PM
Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 8:00PM
Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 3:00PM
Orchestra Hall

Markus Stenz, conductor
Alexander Gavrylyuck, piano
Detroit Symphony Orchestra

RACHMANINOFF Concerto for Piano No. 3
BUSONI Berceuse élégiaque
SCRIABIN Le Poème de l'extase (The Poem of Ecstasy)