Christoph Altstaedt

Christoph Altstaedt made his debut at the 2025 Bregenz Festival conducting Vienna Symphony Orchestra in Philipp Stölzl’s production of Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Seebühne Bregenz. Other recent highlights include performances of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Cologne Opera (new staging by Benjamin Lazar), featuring Gürzenich Orchester. Last season, Altstaedt returned to Vienna State Opera to conduct their staged production of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique symphony. This follows his superb debut there in 2023 conducting Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten which featured choreography by Martin Schläpfer, with whom Altstaedt has developed a strong partnership since they first worked together during his tenure as Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper am Rhein. 

Altstaedt remains a very popular guest at Vienna Volksoper, where he returns this season to conduct their production of Marie Antoinette (music by Haydn, Gluck, Lully). In recent seasons, he has also conducted Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, as well as the premiere and revival runs of The Moon Wears a White Shirt (music by Schnittke, Ligeti, Locatelli). 

Recent and future symphonic highlights include Gürzenich Orchester, Munich Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Dortmund Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, and Cologne’s WDR Funkhausorchester. Altstaedt has conducted gala concerts with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, as well as multiple programmes with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, including London subscription concerts, regional tours, and their annual Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. Highly regarded for his stylistic interpretations of classical repertoire, Altstaedt conducted the Academy of Ancient Music’s European tour with repertoire including Beethoven and Friedrich Witt, featuring soprano Chen Reiss. 

His extensive operatic experience includes productions at Finnish National Opera (Così fan tutte), Glyndebourne on Tour (La Traviata, and David McVicar’s production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Opera North (Hansel and Gretel, Don Giovanni), Theater Basel (Die Zauberflöte), and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Savonlinna Opera Festival and Opera Zürich. 

Altstaedt is also very respected for his inspiring work with young musicians. He made a hugely successful debut with the Australian Youth Orchestra, touring a programme inspired by “the grotesque” featuring Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre and HK Gruber’s Frankenstein. Other significant projects include leading the National Youth Orchestra of Germany’s recording and tour, which included concerts at both Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie halls – the latter of which was recorded for Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall. With the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Altstaedt led ground-breaking experimental projects #sacrelektro and #etruschka which combined Stravinsky’s symphonic music with live sounds from electronic artists. The success of this innovative concert format resulted in a tour of #etruschka to the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Another notable achievement was with the Junges Klangforum Mitte Europa (2004-2011), an orchestra which Altstaedt founded and directed, whose work won numerous prestigious awards such as the Praemium Imperiale for the arts, and the Marion Dönhoff Prize for International Reconciliation and Understanding.

Altstaedt’s unwavering commitment to bringing classical music to wider audiences has led him to explore new avenues alongside his conventional engagements. For Arte and the Ufa Filmnächte Berlin, he recorded film music for Carmen by Ernst Lubitsch. With Ensemble Resonanz, he has presented Faust by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau at the Salzburg Festival and, most recently, The Merry Widow by Erich von Stroheim at Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Vienna Konzerthaus.