Christoph Gedschold

Christoph Gedschold is one of the most distinguished German conductors of his generation. As the former Music Director of the Leipzig Opera (2022–2024) and Chief Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, he shapes the realm of music theater at the intersection of grand operatic tradition and the symphonic repertoire.
While still pursuing his studies in piano and conducting in Leipzig and Hamburg, he worked as a répétiteur with the International Opera Studio in Zurich. In 2002, he became a staff conductor and répétiteur at the Lucerne Theatre and worked at the Lucerne Festival, collaborating with artists such as Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, and Pierre Boulez. He served as an assistant to Ulf Schirmer at the Bregenz Festival in 2005 and subsequently held positions at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and the Leipzig Opera.
Working closely with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, he has conducted new productions of major works at the Leipzig Opera since 2022, including “Der Rosenkavalier”, “Elektra”, “Salome”, “Tristan und Isolde”, “Lohengrin”, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”, “Peter Grimes”, “Otello”, “Tosca”, and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. As part of the major "Wagner 22" project, he assumed musical direction for “Die Feen”, “Das Liebesverbot”, and “Lohengrin”. In addition, he has conducted works such as “Elektra” and “Ariadne auf Naxos” at the Semperoper Dresden; “Götterdämmerung” and “Lohengrin” in Oviedo; and new productions including Weinberg’s “The Passenger” (at the Semperoper Dresden and Oper Frankfurt), “Rusalka” in Cologne, “Eugene Onegin” in Zurich, and “Katya Kabanova” in Hamburg. He also conducted Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
He assumed the position of Chief Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2024, having previously appeared as a guest conductor with the ensemble at the Vienna Musikverein in September 2022. In March 2025, he conducted the orchestra in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, performing Haydn’s “Farewell Symphony”, the Prelude and “Liebestod” from Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.
Alongside his regular collaborations with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, he has conducted ensembles such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, the Gürzenich Orchestra, the Nationaltheater Mannheim Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Zurich Opera Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, and the New Japan Philharmonic.
With “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”, Christoph Gedschold takes on the musical direction of a new production at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein for the first time, following various guest conducting engagements.