Christoph
Poppen

Christoph Poppen is a distinguished conductor renowned for his innovative programming and dedication to all classical music genres. A frequent guest conductor, he has worked with orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, and the New Japan Philharmonic, while maintaining long-term artistic relationships with ensembles such as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic.

An accomplished educator, Poppen has served as Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he was president from 1996 through 2000. He has been a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich since 2003 and founded the International Academy for Music, Arts and Science in Marvão, Portugal, in 2019. As of the 2021/22 academic year, he is the Chair Professor of Violin at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.

In the field of opera, Poppen has conducted successful productions, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Aalto Theatre and Iphigénie en Aulide at Staatsoper Stuttgart. His return to Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa in 2016 for Don Giovanni and his engagements at Oper Frankfurt for Les pêcheurs de perles further showcase his versatility.

Over the years, he has held several significant directorships in Germany. From 1995 to 2006, he was Artistic Director of the Münchener Kammerorchester. Appointed Music Director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken in 2006, he later led the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern. Between 2020 and 2022, he was also Artistic Director of the Classic Revolution Festival in Seoul.

In the 2022/23 season, Poppen continues his dynamic collaborations as Principal Conductor with Kölner Kammerorchester and Principal Guest Conductor for the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Israel Chamber Orchestra, alongside a recorded cycle of the complete Mozart Masses for Naxos.