About

General Music Director - Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra and Opera

Principal Guest Conductor - BR Munich Radio Orchestra

Principal Guest Conductor - Royal Scottish National Orchestra

© Gerhard Donauer | C&G Pictures
© Gerhard Donauer | C&G Pictures

Conductor, composer and pianist Patrick Hahn was born in 1995 in Graz, Austria and has already established himself as one of the most promising artists of his generation. Patrick’s international presence has grown exponentially in recent seasons in both the concert hall and opera house, with important engagements including dates with the Münchner Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Wiener Symphoniker and Semperoper Dresden.  From the season 2021/22 he has taken up the position of General Music Director of the Wuppertaler Bühnen und Sinfonieorchester GmbH, becoming the youngest GMD in Germany. He currently also holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor of both the Munich Radio Orchesta as well as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

 

As conductor, he has performed with major orchestras and opera houses including the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, DSO - Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, as well as Dutch National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Zurich Opera and Frankfurt Opera. From 2021 until 2023 he has served as Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Borusan İstanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. Within the field of contemporary music he has a close relationship with Klangforum Wien.

 

As a pianist, he performed with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg or as a Lied accompanist in the Vienna Musikverein.

 

Next to his studies in piano and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, he was invited to master classes with Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, and as a Conducting Fellow to the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center.

 

Patrick’s first composition was an opera, Die Frittatensuppe, which he premiered in 2008. In 2013 he was awarded the 2nd prize from 170 submissions worldwide for his composition Ameraustrica at the 2013 Penfield Music Commission Project Contest (New York, USA). As a composer and arranger he has published music with Tierolff Muziekcentrale (Roosendaal, The Netherlands) as well as Helbling (Innsbruck, Austria).

 

Aside from his work in classical music, Patrick has a keen interest in both cabaret-songs, by the Austrian satirist and composer Georg Kreisler, as well as in jazz music, having received awards as a pianist at jazz festivals such as Chicago, and the ‘Outstanding Soloist Award’ from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as the best jazz pianist of the 37th Annual Jazz Festival.