The Viennese conductor Sascha Goetzel has crafted a dynamic global reputation as both a music director and guest conductor. As Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009, he has raised the ensemble to even higher artistic standards and garnered it international recognition with appearances at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, and Vienna Musikverein. Maestro Goetzel additionally serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan and previously held titles with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and Kuopio Symphony in Finland.
Maestro Goetzel’s upcoming guest conducting arrangements for the 2018-19 season include Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra Gala with Juan Diego Florez. During this season, he will tour with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic including stops at the Concertgebouw and Paris. Goetzel will also conduct Mozart’s Magic of Figaro and Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with the Vienna State Opera.
During the previous season, Goetzel led the NHK Symphony, Münchner Symphoniker, Brandeburgisches Staatsorchester, Teatro Communale Bologna, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Slovak National Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique Nancy, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Pays de la Loire, Dresden Philharmonic at the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Große Orchester Graz at the Stefaniensaal Graz, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Kioi Sinfonietta, National Orchestra of Belgium, and Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. Goetzel has worked with soloists including Vadim Repin, Daniel Hope, Yuja Wang, Hillary Hahn, and Branford Marsalis.
Goetzel is also highly regarded as an opera conductor and has appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Volksoper, Opera Anger-Nantes, Tiroler Landestheater, Opera de Montpelier, Opera de Rennes, Tokyo Nikkikai Opera Company at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. His 2014 direction of Le Nozze di Figaro at Wiener Staatsoper garnered high praise and re-engagement to conduct six more operas- Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, La Traviata, La Boheme, Die Zauberflöte, and Die Fledermaus- in the coming seasons. He has conducted many famed singers in concerts including Renee Fleming, Roberto Alagna, Juan Diego Flores, Thomas Hampson, Bryn Terfel, Piotr Beczala, Bo Skovhus, and Ian Bostridge.
Recording on Deutsche Grammophon and Onyx labels, Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic have released international award winning albums: 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).
Photo Credit: Ozge Balkan