Thomas Hengelbrock has been acclaimed by the press as “one of the most noteworthy conductors of our time.” Bonn’s Generalanzeiger wrote about his interpretations in Mozart year 2006: “Today, Mozart can scarcely be performed more excitingly and intensely than it is done by Hengelbrock.”

As an opera conductor, Thomas Hengelbrock has presented Bernstein’s West Side Story, Millöcker’s The Beggar Student, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero, in addition to Mozart’s operas and rarities of the Baroque period. Hengelbrock ventures into uncharted terrain with his interpretation of Verdi’s operas on historical instruments, calling into question conventional listening habits. His involvement in musical theatre is never limited to the orchestra pit, but is marked by an unusually close interaction with choreographers such as Pina Bausch and directors such as Philippe Arlaud, Achim Freyer, Sebastian Baumgarten, and Luc Bondy. Lately, Hengelbrock has appeared with his own highly regarded stagings, most recently at his Salzburg debut with Mozart’s Il re pastore and Don Giovanni at the Feldkirch Festival.

With his own ensembles he has developed a special form of musical theater, resulting in staged productions such as Metamorphoses of Melancholy, Pur ti miro, and Italian Carnival Music that tell new stories in an innovative mix of music, theatre, literature, and dance. In collaboration with actors Graham Valentine and Klaus Maria Brandauer, incidental music – such as Purcell’s King Arthur, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, or Beethoven’s Egmont – is brought to life again in the context of the dramatic texts for which it was originally intended.

Unconventional programming concepts characterize the concert activities of the conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. For example, he has unearthed compositions that had fallen into oblivion, such as Antonio Lotti’s Requiem or works of today little-known masters from J. S. Bach’s music library, and recorded them for the first time. Just as important for him is a close collaboration with contemporary composers, including Jan Müller-Wieland, Quigang Chen, Erkki-Sven Tüür, and Simon Wills, many of whose works he has premiered.

Thomas Hengelbrock founded the Balthasar Neumann Choir in 1991, and the instrumental ensemble of the same name in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, from 2000 to 2003 music director of Vienna’s Volksoper, and artistic director of the Feldkirch Festival until 2006. He makes guest appearances on a regular basis with renowned orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, and accepts invitations from major opera houses, such as the Opéra National de Paris, and international festivals, such as the Salzburg Festival.