Contact
Karoline Jacobkj@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-221Elia Merguetel@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-225
General Management
As music director of the Folkoperan Stockholm, Henrik Schaefer started the season 2021/22 by bringing the house fresh ideas – and not just through the original romantic sound.
Vincenzo Bellini, Norma
Henrik Schaefer, conductor
Orchestra of Folkoperan Stockholm
Eirik Stubø, stage direction
Joakim Steen, The Noise of Time
Tobias Theorell, stage direction
Claude Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No 7 in A major, Op. 92
Eduardas Balsys, Concert No 2
Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester
Just as Wagner desired: the orchestra is invisible and does not disturb the contact between singers and audiences in any kind. They also play with seductive portamenti that weld together all ”Leitmotive” to pure gold. Conductor Henrik Schaefer does not only know why he has to do this, but also how and that makes his interpretation so unbelievably convincing! Expressen
Henrik Schaefer is a regular fixture on the podium at opera houses and symphony orchestras across the world, proving himself an engaged partner with strong musical ideas. His commitment to unknown romantic repertoire is demonstrated in concerts, opera productions and first recordings of re-discovered works by composers such as Elfrida Andrée, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Joachim Raff and August Klughardt.
The Bochum-born musician started his conducting career as an assistant to Claudio Abbado and served as Music Director of the Gothenburg Opera from 2014 until 2020, where he led lauded productions of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, Strauss’ Daphne, Thomas’ Hamlet or Madama Butterfly. From 2004 to 2011 Henrik Schaefer was Principal Guest Conductor of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, and from 2007 to 2013 he was Chief Conductor of the Wermland Opera Karlstad, where he found international recognition through his performances of the complete Ring cycle using historical instruments. He already conducted extensive research into the performance practice of string instruments in the 19th century for his debut production of Parsifal in Karlstad.
Since the 2021/22 season Henrik Schaefer takes his passion for the romantic performance practice a step further as the new Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Stockholm Folkopera. For the first new production under his musical direction, he initiated the founding of a period-instrument orchestra and arranged a tailored arrangement of Verdi's Don Carlos (staged by Tobias Theorell). In the 2022/23 season Henrik Schaefer continues this successful musical vision for Bellini’s Norma (staged by Eirik Stubø). This season also sees him conduct The Turn of the Screw at the Folkopera, a new production of The Tales of Hoffmann at the Norrlandsopera as well as concerts with the recently merged Phion orchestra (NL) and the South Denmark Philharmonic.
International guest appearances include the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he led productions at the Leipzig Opera (The Marriage of Figaro), the Hong Kong Opera (The Flying Dutchman) as well as at the Vienna Volksoper (The Magic Flute), and in 2020 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (La Traviata with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra).
Henrik Schaefer studied viola at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen as well as with Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian in Freiburg. In 1991 he was made the youngest member of the Berlin Philharmonic at 22 years of age, performing with the great conductors of the day including Carlos Kleiber, Sergiu Celibidache, Ricardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel and Bernard Haitink. During this time he studied conducting from 1994 to 1998 at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig with Volker Rohde. In 2000 Claudio Abbado named him as his assistant at the Berlin Philharmonic, and he increasingly supported the Maestro in performances of repertoire including Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal,Falstaff as well as the symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner. Following Abbado’s departure from Berlin in 2003, Henrik Schaefer decided to dedicate himself totally to conducting – a decision that was quickly followed by the success of his performance of The Rite of Spring with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Leipzig Ballet (documented on DVD for the Arthaus label).
The conductor has an ongoing commitment to supporting young musicians and singers, including work at the Dutch National Opera Academy and the Hanyang University in Seoul as well as his current position as Artistic Director of the study programme Master of Orchestra Performance at Gothenburg University.
2022/23 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions, or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Leben, Sterben, Überleben
This programme highlights various composers and their individual circumstances under the Third Reich. Korngold went to the U.S. to compose and decided to remain. His brief Cello Concerto is the ideal work for an orchestra soloist. Schoenberg converted back to Judaism in 1933 and emigrated to the USA. Strauss accepted the position of President of the Reich Chamber of Music.
Hans Krasár wrote his children's opera in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where it was performed 55 times. During this it took on various iterations, as the children's soloists were continuously deported to the Auschwitz and Buchenwald extermination camps.
Amfortas Wunde
This programme brings together Wagner's music with three dramatically distinct 20th century works. Penderecki, Wagner, and Pärt merge seamlessly, with Henrik Schaefer also weaving Adams' piece into the Parsifal suite.
Mad Kings
This concert also presents varied styles united by the common theme of mad kings. Maxwell Davies’ rather small-scale work is an eye-opener for audiences who fear modern music.
Orpheus 360 degrees
Different styles – from entertaining to intellectual – yet the whole evening centres on Orpheus, the ur-musician whose head kept on singing even after his death!
"Rarely has one heard the Folkoperan orchestra play so magnificently and enthusiastically as now under Schaefer's direction, and indeed throughout the entire performance. Schaefer is fully committed to the dramatic action, breathes and supports the singers in the endless melodic arches and also manages to give energy to Bellini's rather plain accompanying figures."
Opera Tidskriften N. 5, 2022, Erik Graune (Norma)
"With the experienced orchestra of Norrlandsopera, Henrik Schaefer conjures up a lively 19th century Paris. Offenbach's rich melodies receive a loving treatment that also lets their dark features emerge, and Schaefer's interest in historically informed performance practice shines through from the gliding, beautiful passages of the double basses to the richly coloured entries of the woodwinds."
Bo Löfvendahl, Svenska Dagbladet, 13.11.22 (Tales of Hoffmann)
"The orchestra, also smaller in size, plays on gut strings and wind instruments from Verdi's time. A bold choice by conductor Henrik Schaefer. Despite the challenge of intonation, the payoff is a pure, muted, sound that continously puts this music in a new, fascinating light."
Expressen.se, 24/09/2021
“Henrik Schaefer conducted with a light touch, bringing out the bounce and rhythm of Rossini’s music and marshalling the set pieces with ease.”
Seen and Heard International, Niklas Smith, 09/04/2018
“Schaefer manages to balance these complex developments and the art of balancing continues in his Brahms interpretation. Here you can hear how close this music is to his heart. He seems to have an album of ideas and and an archive of sounds and the details are always taken care of. But what convinces especially is the big form, the long lines and the energies that ewoke when different passages mirror one another.”
Göteborgsposten, Magnus Haglund, 16/09/2016
“The orchestra of the Wermland Opera is hidden on the upper balcony and spreads a sort of surround-sound that is in perfect balance with the singers on stage. Just as Wagner desired: the orchestra is invisible and does not disturb the contact between singers and audiences in any kind. They also play with seductive portamenti that weld together all ”Leitmotive” to pure gold. Conductor Henrik Schaefer does not only know why he has to do this, but also how and that makes his interpretation so unbelievably convincing!”
Expressen, 27/04/2011
“So one came up with the idea to move the entire orchestra with conductor to the 2nd balcony. And what happens? We can enjoy a very unusual Wagner-sound! The instruments appear much clearer and it is almost a quadrophonic experience. It feels like one is sitting within the orchestra, but it almost never gets too loud. And in the tutti, despite the rather small number of musicians, everything sounds very compact. (…) Henrik Schaefer instructed them as all other strings to play with portamento and they play on gut-strings to come closer to the original sound from Wagner's times. A very interesting experiment that the excellent and very energetic conductor Henrik Schaefer, who always choses the right tempi, wants to continue. Another ”plus” of this orchestra setting were the much clearer audible voices that were much better imbedded into this soundspace.”
Der neue Merker, Klaus Billand, 20/04/2011
“Karlstad Opera’s Parsifal in Karlstad Cathedral is breathtaking. An affecting encounter that effectively uses the sacred space (…) Musically, it’s ravishing. The conductor Henrik Schaefer does not only have a firm hold on the form, he also manages to give the reinforced orchestra the sombre and yet shimmering tone that is unique to this work, the reed-section precise in their legato and tastefully executed portamenti in the strings – along with an excellent first trumpet.”
Dagens Nyheter, Thomas Anderberg, 27/02/2007
“Henrik Schaefer conducted as sensitively as Mr Benke Rydman choreographed, bringing a beautiful shimmering sound from the orchestra but also rhythmic precision. The drama was heightened by an impressive dynamic range. The audience was spellbound during the performance, erupting into a standing ovation at the end.”
Seen and Heard International, Niklas Smith, 07/06/2015
Mozart "Die Hochzeit des Figaro" performed by Henrik Schaefer & Arctic Philharmonic
I. Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Verdi: Don Carlos | Folkoperan Stockholm
Click here for the live recording.
S. Prokofjew: Sinfonia Concertante, Gävle Symphony Orchestra
Henrik Schaefer, Symphony Orchestra of Norrköping
Sterling, 2015, CDO 1108/1110-2
Henrik Schaefer, Michael Müller (cello), Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra
Etcetera, 2014, KTC 1371
Henrik Schaefer, Suanna Andersson (soprano), Stockholm Singers, Karlstads Chamber Choir, Göteborg Opera Orchestra
Sterling, 2013, CDS 1088-2
Henrik Schaefer, Göteborgs Operaorkester
Sterlin, 2012, CDS 1099/1100-2
Henrik Schaefer, New Japan Philharmonic
Exton, 2010, OVCL-00422
Henrik Schaefer i.a.
Quattro Live, 2010
Henrik Schaefer, Nederlandas Dans Theater
Arthaus Musik, 2007, 7522091
Henrik Schaefer, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Medici Arts, 2008