Sascha Goetzel
The Viennese conductor Sascha Goetzel has crafted a global reputation as a music director and guest conductor known for his commitment to explore sound and repertoire through dynamic programs and projects.
Throughout his ten year tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, he has raised the ensemble’s artistic standards and garnered international recognition with unique programming, CD recordings and multiple tours, as well as appearances at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms,Hong Kong Arts Festival, Teatre des Champs-Elysees, Royal Concertgebouw and Vienna’s Musikverein as well as the Konzerthaus.
Highlights of his 2019-20 season include orchestral appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Austrian Radio Orchestra, Münchner Symphoniker, Vancouver Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic, a Canadian joint venture Tour of the EUYO+NYO, and Romanian Radio Orchestra, as well as productions of “Die Zauberflöte” with Opernhaus Zürich and “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Having established a high reputation as an international guest conductor, Goetzel appeared in various productions with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, NHK-Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra among many others. He has worked with international soloists such as Maxim Vengerov, Murray Perahia, Rudolf Buchbinder, Yuja Wang, Vadim Repin, Daniel Hope, Hillary Hahn, and Branford Marsalis.
Esteemed as an opera conductor, his 2014 direction of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Wiener Staatsoper garnered great praise and immediate re-invitations for various opera productions: Rosenkavalier; Don Giovanni; Le Nozze di Figaro; Rigoletto; La Traviata; La Boheme; Die Zauberflöte and Fledermaus. To date, he has conducted Opera Anger-Nantes, Tiroler Landestheater, Opera de Montpelier, Opera de Rennes, Wiener Volksoper, Tokyo Nikkikai Opera Company at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and led Renee Fleming, Roberto Alagna, Juan Diego Florez, Thomas Hampson, Bryn Terfel, Piotr Beczala, Bo Skovhus, and Ian Bostridge in opera galas.
In addition, to working regularly with various youth orchestras, Goetzel believes in the importance of music education, building bridges for a mutual multi-cultural understanding of ethic, diversity, hybridity and difference. He actively supports international educational projects such as Music for Peace (Turkey) and El Sistema Europe (International).
On the Deutsche Grammophon and Onyx labels, Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic have released international award winning albums: Baïka (2018), Turnage & Berlioz (2018), Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Rococo Variations (2017), Carmen (2016), Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (2014), Music from the Machine Age (2012), and Sascha Goetzel conducts Respighi, Hindemith & Schmitt (2010).
Maestro Goetzel has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2013-2017, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne from 2012-2015, and as Principle Conductor of the Kuopio Symphony in Finland from 2006-2012.
Photo by Özge Balkan