Contact
Kathrin Feldmann-Uhlkf@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-241
Heike Wilmshw@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-236
General Management
Under the baton of Titus Engel, the WDR Symphony Orchestra recorded Betsy Jolas' Musique d'hiver – the album has now been awarded the German Record Critics' Prize.
We congratulate Titus Engel on winning the Swiss Music Prize 2025.
In February, two very different albums with orchestra and big band were released, both recorded under the musical direction of Titus Engel: The orchestra and big band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin celebrate Duke Ellington, and the Basel Sinfonietta and the NDR Bigband present a new work by Michael Wertmüller.
James Dillon, Lightning strike
Nina Šenk, Changing
Tan Dun, Percussion Concerto «The Tears of Nature»
Titus Engel, conductor
Vera Fischer, flute
Vivi Vassileva, percussion
Basel Sinfonietta
John Luther Adams, Become Ocean
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Jukka Tiensuu, "Spiriti" for Accordion and Orchestra
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No.7 in E Major
Kresimir Lulic, accordion
Orchester der HMTM Hannover, orchestra
Olivier Messiaen, Éclairs sur l’au-delà
Studierende der Hochschule für Musik Basel
Bára Gísladóttir, Good Vibes Only (Word premiere)
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Joris Lacoste, stage direction
The state orchestra performs miracles, the choir does the same as the instrumentalists. What happens here musically is of the utmost magnificence, Titus Engel conducts this highly complex construct with stupendous naturalness. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Egbert Tholl, 12/6/2023
Respected for his profound knowledge of contemporary music and his precise and informed conducting of classical-romantic and baroque works, Titus Engel regularly performs key works from both the operatic and the symphonic repertoire. He devises programmes that are artistically rigorous and open up spaces for social resonance. “What interests me is a blend of overwhelm and enjoyment – revealing the depth in La Traviata and the entertainment value in Stockhausen,” says the Swiss conductor.
As Conductor-in-Residence at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Titus Engel has been helping to reshape the theatre’s artistic profile since the start of the current season. In this new role, he is conducting the world premiere of Bára Gísladóttir’s Good Vibes Only, and, as part of the Musikfest Berlin, he is opening the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra’s symphony concert series with Stockhausen’s Michaels Reise and excerpts from Wagner’s Parsifal. As part of the new ‘Unlimited’ series at the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s performance space Tischlerei, he is leading a cycle dedicated to the work of John Cage. In his fourth season as Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta, Titus Engel continues to promote innovative concert formats and will perform Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’au-delà, Berg’s violin concerto To the Memory of an Angel, Honegger’s Pacific 231 and numerous contemporary works. He will also be a guest conductor with the WDR Symphony Orchestra in October, performing John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, and in March he will conduct the Ensemble Reflektor at the Elbphilharmonie in a dance production set to Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, which he previously performed in Rouen last season.
Titus Engel regards musical theatre as a field of experimentation in which social utopias can flourish. He constantly seeks to engage with staging concepts in order to break new ground at the conductor’s podium as well. His repertoire ranges from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (Theater an der Wien) to Romantic classics such as Der Freischütz, Lohengrin and La Traviata (Theater Basel, Tiroler Festspiele Erl) to modern music such as Nielsen's Maskerade and Haas' Bluthaus. Major guest engagements in recent years have taken the Berlin-based conductor to the Grand Théâtre de Genève with Hèctor Parra’s Justice, to the Staatsoper Hannover with Michael Wertmüller’s Echo 72. Israel in München, to the Semperoper in Dresden with Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen (directed by Immo Karaman), and to the Hamburg State Opera and the Zurich Opera with the premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Monster’s Paradise. At the Grand Théâtre de Genève, he most recently conducted Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels.
At the big houses in Stuttgart, Lyon, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Geneva, he has conducted works by Wagner, Bartók, Berg, Strauss, Mozart, Lehár, Nunes and Glass, among others. Gerard Mortier invited him to the Teatro Real Madrid in 2011, where he conducted several productions, including the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain. Together with Lydia Steier, he brought Stockhausen's Donnerstag to the stage of the Theater Basel in 2016; the production was named Performance of the Year by Opernwelt magazine. The World Premiere of the Year under his baton in 2017 was Chaya Czernowin's opera Infinite Now. Major opera productions in recent years include Henze's The Raft of Medusa, performed at Tempelhof Airport (Komische Oper Berlin, directed by Tobias Kratzer) and a monumental production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise in Stuttgart, which incorporated the urban space and was named ‘the most unusual opera experience of 2023’ by Opernwelt magazine. He has also led numerous world premieres at the Salzburg Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, and the Wiener Konzerthaus.
Guest conducting engagements include the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the SWR and WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the chamber orchestras in Zurich and Munich, as well as the Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. He conducted Mahler's Symphony No. 7 with the Hanover State Orchestra and worked with the Camerata Salzburg at the Salzburg Festival and the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, where he conducted all of Brahms' symphonies.
Titus Engel regularly dedicates time to education projects to inspire people who would otherwise not be on the classical stage with special experiences for music. Examples of this include Cornelius Cardew's The Great Learning (Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Tonhalle Zurich), John Cage's Music Circus (Alte Oper Frankfurt) and Bernhard Gander's Melting Pot (Haydn Orchestra Bolzano, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne).
Titus Engel has recorded numerous works for radio and CD, most recently Charles Mingus' Suite Epitaph (2024) and the Duke Ellington album A Celebration for the Duke (2025), recorded live with the big band and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He is also the founder of the Akademie Musiktheater Heute in addition to having edited several books on contemporary opera. In 2025, he was awarded the Swiss Music Prize for his artistic work, having already been named Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 2020.
Season 2026/27
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
ENERGY AND ATTACKS
Flowing
Titan & Tragic Hero
Ritual Groove
The greatest night of Jazz
On Zappa’s 200 Motels at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva“Those who listen closely will find quotations from and echoes of Bartók, Nancarrow, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Webern within the constantly shifting conglomerate. Conductor Titus Engel repeatedly succeeds in unfolding this puzzle of sketches and sonic vignettes, drawing the audience into Zappa’s labyrinth of ambiguities and double meanings.”
FAZ, Peter Kemper, 25/6/2026
On Neuwirth's Monster's Paradise at the Hamburg State Opera“Titus Engel conducted the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and Chorus with great judiciousness, as he had to interpret a work that not only required a broad view of the classical and modern aspects of music history but also took punk, pop and trash culture into account. Musical quotations often appeared in hidden form but sometimes very identifiably, as in the case of the scherzo rom Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. Engel directed all this with great drive.”
Opera Magazine, Jürgen Gahre, April 2026
"Swiss conductor Titus Engel, an expert in contemporary repertoire, ensured that the score – multifaceted and rich in contrasts – made a powerful impression.”
Opera, Bernd Hoppe, March 2026
On Abrahamsen‘s The Snow Queen at the Semperoper Dresden"Perhaps the evening’s greatest strength is the Staatskapelle orchestra under Titus Engel’s meticulous direction; the ensemble brings phenomenal warmth and sensuality to Abrahamsen’s brittle, eloquent score."
Financal Times, Shirley Apthorp, 8/12/2025
On Reimann‘s L'invisible at the Frankfurt Opera House"The overall musical impression of the Frankfurt premiere is powerfully enduring. This is due in no small part to Titus Engel's conducting, which eloquently emphasizes the diverse, and at times strikingly contrasting, layers of the score."
Opernwelt, Gerhard R. Koch, May 2025
"It was really impressive how confidently the singers and orchestra found their own way through Reimann's demanding score under Titus Engel's clever and precise conducting compared to the world premiere. Engel also brought out the score's effects, especially in terms of colour, which were less dynamically blatant - the way Engel balanced, structured and roughened up the colours was superb! And he leads the singers excellently."
Die deutsche Bühne, Detlef Brandenburg, 31/3/2025
On Wertmüller's Echo72 at the Staatstheater Hannover"Musically, the exceptionally complex evening was in the very best and, with this repertoire, also very experienced hands of Titus Engel. In every second, his conducting for both the pit and the stage was absolutely precise and understandable, and at the same time, he managed to maintain exact control over the large sound apparatus, even dynamically. He also gave the finest pianissimos the space they needed."
Opernglas, S. Mauß, March 2025
"Meanwhile, from the pit, which also houses the Steamboat Switzerland jazz trio, Titus Engel skillfully keeps holds the masses together. He is well-versed in the deliberately contrapuntal complexity ambition of his friend Wertmüller, who layers ideas, sounds, and changing rhythms."
VAN, Elelonore Büning, 29/1/2025
"Titus Engel coordinates the groups with a clear rhythm and a constant dynamic increase."
Oper!, Andreas Berger, 28/1/2025
"In the end, the words fall silent, delivering an instrumental, negative apotheosis from the gifted Niedersachsen State Orchestra under Titus Engel, who can conduct such music like no one else, and Steamboat Switzerland, which, in its very wordlessness, encompasses all horrors."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 27/1/2025, Egbert Tholl
On A Celebration for the Duke (Ellington) with Orchestra and BigBand der Deutschen Oper at Musikfest Berlin"Titus Engel conducted this second part of the evening. It had real drive."
rbb Radio3, 17/9/2024, Henrike Leißner
On the DVD with Carl Nielsen's Maskarade with the Frankfurt Opern and Museumsorchester"Titus Engel makes an orchestra shine, which, like the choir, performs at its best."
Diapason, September 2024, Didier Van Moere
On Parra's Justice at the Grand Théâtre de Genève"Titus Engel is the best advocate of this subtle music with his differentiated, dynamically perfectly balanced conducting of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Even in the powerful choruses, the focus is not on effect, but rather on a heightening of the action with an occasionally oratorical impact."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 25/1/2024, Marco Frei
"Titus Engel conducts the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with precision and drive, and the international ensemble is completely convincing."
SRF, 23/1/2024, Ruth Wili
On Henze's The Raft of the Medusa at Komische Oper Berlin"Henze’s orchestra, too, is capable of explosive power, but mostly the score restrains these grand forces to a stunned, wary quiet, played by the Komische Oper’s orchestra under Engel with remarkable sensuality and subtlety given the necessity of amplification."
The New York Times, 18/9/2023, Zachary Woolfe
"Conductor Titus Engel manages the vast orchestra and massed choirs with a precision and balance which are little short of miraculous, given the acoustic challenges of the space."
Financial Times, Shirley Apthorp, 18/9/2023
On Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise at the Stuttgart State Opera"The state orchestra performs miracles, the choir does the same as the instrumentalists. What happens here musically is of the utmost magnificence, Titus Engel conducts this highly complex construct with stupendous naturalness."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12/6/2023, Egbert Tholl
"Titus Engel as musical director demands a precise, transparent sound. The maelstrom of static, circling progressions, of rhythmic energy that reaches ecstasy, is thrillingly successful. The orchestra shimmers in all its timbres."
Nachtkritk.de, 12/6/2023, Verena Großkreutz
“Titus Engel leads the orchestra of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, which also takes its place directly on stage in the opera house, with his usual crisp precision, shaping magnificent major-key flows resoundingly and vividly beautiful with his hands. You need a conductor like that on a day like this.”
Opernwelt, August 2023, Arno Lücker
On Bluthaus at the Bayerische Staatsoper"A stylist, no matter what era. Effortlessly he switches from Monteverdi to Haas with the small ensemble of the Staatsorchester. It is thanks to Engel and the musical faction that this score is understandable."
Merkur, 22/5/2022, Markus Thiel
On the concert at the Staatsoper Hannover"Titus Engel seems to have Mahler in his DNA: He knew how to correctly place the typical breaks, to create a balance between heaviness and suspension."
Cellesche Zeitung, 2/3/2022, Jörg Worat
On Lehár's Giuditta at the Bayerische Staatsoper"Engel loves modern scores – and is capable of making them crackle attractively while being unassailably painfully explicit. It bubbles delightfully."
Opernwelt, February 2022, Arno Lücker
On Bluebeard’s Castle (Opéra de Lyon)"After all, the musical success of this evening is mainly due to Titus Engel. A great performance."
Le Forum, 4/4/2023, Gérard Ferrand
On Zemlinsky's Sinfonietta at the Philharmonie Berlin"Titus Engel performed with great precision and full emotional commitment. He brought the wonderfully homogeneous sounding Polish Radio Orchestra to both rousing climaxes and dancing lightness."
Tagesspiegel, 7/11/2022, Mario-Felix Vogt
"The evening has one strength and his name is Titus Engel. The Swiss conductor conducts classical modernism with devotion. But he also knows how to conduct snappy marches and a cultivated bliss in operetta."
Abendzeitung Munich, 20/12/2021, Robert Braunmüller
"Titus Engel is one of the production's greatest assets, a polyglot conductor who thinks his way into Lehár as well as Shostakovich or Schönberg and actually conducts the mix of styles as such. The Bavarian State Orchestra can be profitably challenged here."
Münchner Merkur, 19/12/2021, Markus Thiel
On The Marksman at the Theater Basel"Weber's melodies shine thanks to the Basel Chamber Orchestra under the excellent direction of Titus Engel."
Giornale della musica, 28/12/2022, Stefano Nardelli
"Conductor Titus Engel provides a strong weight to the stage especially with lyrical, dreamlike tones."
Oper!, November 2022, Tobias Gerosa
On Nielsen's Maskerade at Frankfurt Opera"Titus Engel, as conductor, balances alertly and confidently between burlesque and kind-heartedness in tone. He has a sense for the sinewy linearity of Nielsen's orchestral sound, for the tonally and syntactically slipped cadences, which move some emphases into the inauthentic without denouncing them."
FAZ, 2/11/2021, Jan Brachmann
On Epitaph in the Philharmonie Berlin"Under the gesturally economical and equally energetic direction of Titus Engel, the musicians of the Big Band and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper as well as from the Jazzinstitut Berlin explore the expressive worlds of dark menace, intimate songfulness, conflict, and ecstasy on the stage of the Philharmonie with irrepressible joy of playing and remarkable clarity."
Tagesspiegel, 20/9/2022, Isabel Herzfeld
"What conductor Titus Engel conjures out of the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra sets an absolute benchmark for this opera."
SWR, 2/11/2021, Bernd Künzig
"Titus Engel conducts this music with delightful vividness, precisely bringing out its wit. He conducts the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra very briskly, very transparently."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1/11/2021, Egbert Tholl
"Titus Engel revels with relish in the changing temperaments and styles of this great national opera of the Danes with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra."
concerti, 31/10/2021, Joachim Lange
On Wagner's Lohengrin (Tiroler Festspiele Erl)“Titus Engel on the podium celebrated serious and beautiful lightness instead of myth-steaming force.“
Donaukurier, 27/7/2021, Roland H. Dippel
“Titus Engel knows how to achieve rich facets, tonal beauty, the finest subtlety and arcs of tension from the musicians without covering up the singers."
Kurier, 26/7/2021, Helmut Christian Mayer
On Bluebeard's Castle (Opéra de Lyon)“Under the baton of Titus Engel both orchestral accounts were polished and full of richness.”
Opera, June 2021, John Allison
“Titus Engel demonstrates familiarity with the work and with contemporary repertoire. Together with an Opéra de Lyon orchestra gleaming with timbres and colours, he brings to the fore the entire sound palette of the score, flamboyant, smooth, jagged, incisive, and insinuating in turn.”
Forumopera.com, 30/3/2021, Charles Sigl
“Although the conductor remains the same, the interpretation of the opera in these two versions is rather different. In the first, Titus Engel focuses on the dynamics and contrasts present in Bartók's score, while in the second he renders beautifully the colours of the orchestra, drawing out exquisite impressionistic nuances and evocative shadings."
Giornaledellamusica.it, 29/3/2021, Mauro Mariani
“Titus Engel seizes this unique opportunity to deliver two musical interpretations of one operatic work in the same evening. He demonstrates how even a score with exacting performance instructions can sound remarkably different.”
Concerti, 28/3/2021, Peter Krause
“In the pit, the highest precision prevailed, paired with elegance and transparency. A merit above all to conductor Titus Engel and his detailed and finely balanced conducting.“
Opernwelt, Jürgen Otten, Yearbook 2020
On the opening of the Festival Klangspuren Schwaz“At the podium, Titus Engel, repeatedly indispensable when it comes to difficult contemporary music, is superior in technical matters and in the translation into music.“
Tiroler Tageszeitung, 13/9/2020, Ursula Strohal
On BORIS (Staatsoper Stuttgart)“Renowned conductor Titus Engel's ability to relate the strings to each other without convulsive 'assertion' is just brilliant.“
Salzburger Nachrichten, 23/2/2020, Karl Harb
“Both Titus Engel's conducting and the soloists were strong.“
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 7/2/2020, Marco Frei
“Conductor Titus Engel avoids soppy Romanticism, presenting a multifaceted, interwoven score full of regret and longing.“
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 4/2/2020, Reinhard J. Brembeck
“Moving from Mussorgsky’s score to the interspersed sections of Nevsky’s work was no small task, but conductor Titus Engel directed the music with tremendous ease.“
BR Klassik, 4/2/2020, Peter Jungblut
“From the pit under the direction of Titus Engel, everything sounded thoroughly convincing and very differentiated: always transparent, always finely and sharply cut.“
Die Deutsche Bühne, 03/02/2020, Klaus Kalchschmid
On Einstein on the Beach (Grand Théâtre de Genève)“Titus Engel’s thoughtful conducting brought out the best of the Geneva Conservatory of Music’s choir and orchestra.“
Opernglas, December 2019, Stephan Burianek
On Diodati.Unendlich (Theater Basel)“At the premiere [...] the soloists, musicians, choir – and, above all, conductor Titus Engel – did a fantastic job of mastering the highly virtuoso requirements of the score.“
SWR 2, 23/2/2019, Karsten Umlauf
“An astounding achievement [of the conductor Titus Engel] to bring together and develop this with such complexity, such multiplicity.“
Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 21/2/2019, Franziska Stürz
“Titus Engel holds the numerous threads and lines of the score together perfectly; the ensemble is simply phenomenal.“
BR Klassik, 22/2/2019, Jörn Florian Fuchs
“Conductor Titus Engel was a deft helmsman as he guided the musicians of the DRP joyfully through the ups and downs of the extensive score.“
Saarbrücker Zeitung, 29/4/2018, Helmut Fackler
On Bluebeard's Castle (Staatsoper Stuttgart)“Titus Engel renders the impenetrable bright and clear while still allowing the music to radiate into fullness. Excellent precision coupled with a gripping sensuality.“
Stuttgarter Zeitung, 3/11/2018, Susanne Benda
Bluebeard's Castle - Trailer
Titus Engel talks about his love for (music) theatre (in German)
Trailer: Komische Oper Berlin - Das Floss der Medusa - Hans Werner Henze
Mingus: Epitaph
Candide – Avant-goût
Trailer LA TRAVIATA
‹Der Freischütz› – Dirigent Titus Engel über die Arbeit am Stück
A Celebration for the ‘Duke’ (Teaser)
Angela Metzger, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Titus Engel
Neos, 2025, 12531
BigBand and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Fola Dada, Tony Lakatos, Titus Engel
EuroArts, 2025, 2011717
Basel Sinfonietta & NDR Bigband, Lucas Niggli, Kalle Kalima, Titus Engel
TROST, 2025, TR260
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Jazz Institut Berlin, Randy Brecker, Titus Engel
EuroArts, 2024, 2017107
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Titus Engel
DVD/Blu-ray Disc, Naxos, 2024, 2.110762
Agata Zubel, Klangforum Wien, Titus Engel
Kairos, 2021, KAI0015109
Christoph Marthaler, Titus Engel, Anna Viebrock
DVD, Accentus, 2019, ACC 20434
Orchestra Teatro Real Madrid, Titus Engel
DVD, BelAir, 2015
Ensemble Courage, Titus Engel
Wergo, 2011, WER 65802
Wergo, 2011, WER 67262