Kevin John Edusei
Chief Conductor
Kevin John Edusei is one of today's most promising young conductors. He is known for his delicate, clear conducting which creates space for new nuances in a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque to contemporary music
Since the season 2014/2015 he has brought exceptional new visions to the Münchner Symphoniker as their chief conductor and has established a strong relationship with the audience.
Starting in the season 2015/16 he also acts as chief conductor at the Konzert Theater Bern where he has led the productions Peter Grimes, Ariadne auf Naxos, Salome, Herzog Blaubarts Burg, Le nozze di Figaro, Tannhäuser and Symphonie imaginaire a new concert format that he has developed.
He first attracted international attention in 2008 when he won the first prize of the „International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition“ in Athens. Since then he has had guest engagements with numerous prestigious orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tonkünstler-Orchester, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and the Ensemble Modern. In the year 2017 he gave his USA debut with the Colorado Symphony and for the first time appeared with the newly founded Chineke! Orchestra at the BBC Proms.
Following his successful debut at the Semperoper Dresden with Mozart‘s Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 2009 he took over Hindemith‘s Cardillac the year after. In 2013 he presented himself to the Viennese audience with Mozart‘s Magic Flute at the Volksoper Wien. At the Komische Oper Berlin Edusei conducted the production of Don Giovanni in 2016. As part of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam’s NTR ZaterdagMatinee he led a spectacular concert performance of John Adams‘ Nixon in China in 2017.
Kevin collaborates closely with leading soloists as Jan Vogler, Albrecht Mayer, Christoph Prégardien, Arabella Steinbacher, Lauma Skride, Lise de la Salle, Edgar Moreau, David Orlowsky, Daniel Müller-Schott, Chen Reiss, Martin Stadtfeld, Nareh Arghamanyan, Anna Vinnitskaya and many others.
As prizewinner of the 2007 Lucerne Festival‘s conducting competition under the artistic direction of Pierre Boulez he conducted Stockhausen’s opus magnum Gruppen. During the Aspen Music Festival 2004 maestro David Zinman awarded him the fellowship for the American Academy of Conducting.
Kevin John Edusei received important artistical guidance from maestros Jac van Steen, Kurt Masur, Jorma Panula, Sylvain Cambreling and Peter Eötvös.
Furthermore Kevin was awarded the „Dirigentenforum“ stipend of the German Music Council, the fellowship of the International Ensemble Modern Academy and the stipend of the Deutsche Bank affiliated organization „Akademie Musiktheater heute“.