Johannes Klumpp

Johannes Klumpp makes music full of agility in fine nuances. (...) The result is the magic of uninhibited, flowing music-making that forgets itself and casts a breathless spell over the listener. Wiesbadener Tageblatt​

As a creative partner of the orchestra and an outstanding communicator, Johannes Klumpp develops programmes ranging from the late Baroque to classical modernism that thrill audiences. In his fifth season as Artistic Director of the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, he celebrated a special success with the ensemble: under his direction, their complete recording of all Joseph Haydn’s symphonies was awarded the 2025 OPUS Klassik in the category “Symphonic Recording of the Year”. He is currently leading the orchestra in a programme focus entitled “Haydn’s World”.

Since 2013, Johannes Klumpp has served as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen. Thanks in large part to the acclaimed recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's symphonies and concertos, he has significantly enhanced the ensemble's profile. Over the coming years, the aim is to release a complete recording of all the symphonies here as well. The ensemble’s busy touring schedule also bears his distinctive stamp: in the 2024/25 season he made his debut with the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and the ensemble appeared at the Mozartfest Würzburg as well as the Festival Internacional de Música da Póvoa de Varzim, where it performed together with Julia Lezhneva. He has also created innovative programme formats for unique venues such as the Zeche Zollverein World Heritage Site and the Folkwang Museum, collaborating with well-known personalities like actress Martina Gedeck, composer and pianist Hauschka, and the late publicist Roger Willemsen. To promote dialogue with the audience, Johannes Klumpp regularly uses the moderated concert format, especially in Essen.

His busy concert schedule also takes him to renowned orchestras, including the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Stuttgart State Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

Johannes Klumpp, praised by the press as a "singer-conductor par excellence," is also highly regarded in opera. Klumpp feels a particular affinity with Mozart's work; his Figaro at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, among others, received great acclaim, and he has conducted Mozart's The Magic Flute and Così fan tutte multiple times. At the same time, his diverse music theatre repertoire, developed since his time as Principal Conductor at the Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen and as a guest conductor at various opera houses, includes works ranging from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel and Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor to Verdi's Aida and Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Britten's Gloriana, and Feldman's Neither. In recent seasons, he has celebrated successes at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, including productions of Lehár's The Merry Widow, Janáček's From the House of the Dead and The Makropulos Case, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and Weber's Der Freischütz.

Born in Stuttgart, he studied viola and learned his craft under Nicolás Pasquet and Gunter Kahlert in Weimar. He gained early recognition through competition successes in Besançon, at the German University Competition "in memoriam Herbert von Karajan," and at the German Conducting Prize. Masterclasses with renowned conductors such as Reinhard Goebel, Kurt Masur, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Michail Jurowski completed his artistic training.

Season 2025/26

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