Biography Christof Escher

„It seems that Swiss conductor Christof Escher is able to motivate the musicians to deliver a maximum performance.“ Opernwelt

“It was a pleasure to hear what happens with the orchestra if it is led by a first-class conductor.” Argentinian Daily News

“GMD Christof Escher found the soul of the music, which I have never heard better before. Again rapturous applause, again standing ovations.” Sächsische Zeitung

Chief Conductor Christof Escher was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Zurich Symphony Orchestr. Previously he was General Music Director of the Görlitz Opera and the New Lausitzer Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Netherlands Dance Theatre in Den Haag and a Regular Guest Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.

Concerts Christof Escher has performed in most European countries, South America, Japan, South Africa and Israel. He has conducted renowned orchestras such as the , Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Philharmonica de Buenos Aires, Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. He has accompanied acclaimed artists such as Gidon Kremer, Gil Shaham, Grigorij Sokolov, Francois-René Duchable, Christian Zacharias, David Geringas as well as Jazz musicians Paquito D’Rivera and Daniel Schnyder and the actor Klaus Maria Brandauer. Complementing the standard classical repertoire, Christof Escher has a passion for contemporary music which has led to several world premiere performances and he enjoys performing unknown and rarely played pieces as well as building connections between music, the visual arts and literature.

Opera and ballet Christof Escher made his successful debut as an opera conductor with “” at the Zurich Opera where he was reinvited to conduct “Wozzeck”, “La Sonnambula”, “L’elisir d’amore”, “Die Zauberflöte”, “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and “”. Worldclass Choreographer Jiri Kylian brought Christof Escher to the ballet by engaging him as Music Director at the Netherlands Dance Theatre in Den Haag. Christof Escher has conducted at well-known opera houses such as Munich, Semper Opera Dresden, Amsterdam Opera, , Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Teatro Real Madrid and among others on the following festivals: Salzburg, Holland, Peralada, Santander, Ludwigsburg, Lucerne, Zurich and Kusatsu. He worked with stars like Kathleen Battle, Teresa Berganza, Francisco Araiza, Matti Salminen and Neil Shicoff. Christof Escher received the “Conductor of the year” award from the Argentinian music critics for the interpretation of “Cosi fan tutte” and “Le sacre de Printemps” at the Teatro Colon. He conducted world premiere performances of the opera “Nathans Tod” (Jan Müller- Wieland/George Tabori) and “Chacun son singe” (Eric Gaudibert) as well as choreographies from Jiri Kylian and Hans van Manen.

Film music In addition to film recordings, Christof Escher conducts with enthusiasm silent films from Charles Chaplin, Sergej M. Eisenstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, Georg-Wilhelm Papst, Lotte Reiniger and many more.

Young talent promotion Dear to Christof Escher’s heart is the encouragement towards exposure and education of classical music and playing music with and for children and adolescents as well as educating and supporting upcoming talents in the classical music industry. He gave several workshops, orchestra academies, chamber music courses and presents with great success concerts for children and families. He was also a member of the jury and accompanied the laureates during several music competitions such as the European Youth Music Competition, Géza Anda Competition and Tibor Varga Competition.

Studies Born in Zurich, Christof Escher studied Cello (with Claude Starck) and French horn (with Werner Speth) in Zurich and Cello (with André Navarra), chamber music (with Jean Hubeau) and conducting (with Pierre Dervaux) in Paris. Christof Escher took master classes with Jean Fournet, Milan Horvat, Carl Melles, , Peter Maag and Franco Ferrara. As a cellist with a repertoire from Barock to Avantgarde he performed as soloist, chamber musician and in orchestras under conductors such as Karl Böhm, Rudolf Kempe, Erich Leinsdorf, Yehudi Menuhin or Günter Wand. Christof Escher is a

prize winner of the competitions “Gino Marinuzzi” in San Remo and “Ernest Ansermet” in Geneva. These events drew international focus on Christof Escher’s talent as a conductor and launched his global career.

Official website: www.christof-escher.com Last update: January 2012