“… there are two clearly defined worlds at play, thanks to the mesmerising presence of German conductor Joana Mallwitz … [She] danced through the score, teasing every ounce of fairy dust from the orchestra…”
Bachtrack, reviewing Mallwitz’s 2023 debut at the Dutch National Opera, conducting Rusalka
“Wise, masterful, heartfelt” – this is how the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described Joana Mallwitz’s interpretation of Mozart’s Così fan tutte for her unanimously acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2020. That occasion saw her become the first female conductor to conduct an opera in the prestigious festival’s 100‑year history – one of many firsts in an exceptional career that has risen to an even higher level since her Salzburg appearance.
The FAZ’s choice of adjectives might equally apply to Mallwitz’s vision for the future of classical music. A passionate advocate of music education and of the power of symphonic music and opera to move and inspire people from all walks of life, she took over as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin at the start of the 2023–24 season. Der Spiegel heralded her appointment to one of the German capital’s foremost cultural institutions, declaring her to be “the antithesis of the antiquated image of the maestro”, a verdict influenced by Mallwitz’s vitality and winning ability to communicate stories about the works in her wide repertoire in accessible, jargon-free language and with authentic personal warmth and humility.
Since assuming her new role – and becoming the first woman to lead one of Berlin’s major orchestras in the process – Mallwitz has cultivated her art to the highest degree while connecting with a large new audience. She has brought with her the pioneering concept of the Expeditionskonzert, which she developed during her years at the Theater Erfurt, and through which she and her players provide an illustrated introduction to the music the audience is about to hear.
With a repertoire that spans all eras and genres, Mallwitz regularly appears as guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home in the opera house, where her professional career began, and boosted by her success at Salzburg, in recent years she has conducted critically acclaimed productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dresden Semperoper, Oper Frankfurt, Dutch National Opera and the Royal Opera House, Copenhagen.
Having signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon in June 2023, it was with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin that Joana Mallwitz made her debut DG recording. Set for release on 2 August 2024, The Kurt Weill Album presents that composer’s Symphony No. 1 “Berliner Symphonie”, Symphony No. 2 “Fantaisie symphonique” and Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins). Their next recording will be Haydn’s oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation), while other future projects will explore the long and distinguished history of the Konzerthaus Berlin as both playhouse and concert hall, embracing works in which the worlds of theatre and music collide, and compositions with a close connection to Berlin and the venue itself.
Mallwitz’s engagements with her orchestra during the 2024–25 season include a performance of Nono’s Como una ola de fuerza y luz and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony at Musikfest Berlin, as well as concerts comprising works by, among others, J.S. Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Lili Boulanger, Cage, Ligeti and Schubert. Her Berlin programme will also feature “Expedition Concerts” devoted to Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 “Great”.
In addition to her Konzerthaus commitments, Mallwitz is scheduled to conduct her first concerts with both the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in March 2025. That same month she makes her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera with a revival of Sir Richard Eyre’s staging of Le nozze di Figaro.
Joana Mallwitz was born in Hildesheim in September 1986. She began playing violin at the age of three and received her first piano lessons two years later. Her determination to become a conductor took hold during her early teens when she opened a score of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony and was enchanted by its seemingly boundless scope for interpretation. She subsequently enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, where she continued her studies in piano with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling while developing her conducting skills with instruction from Eiji Oue, Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie.
In 2006 Mallwitz joined Theater und Orchester Heidelberg as a repetiteur and soon made her professional conducting debut, deputising for an indisposed colleague at short notice in Madama Butterfly. She served as second Kapellmeisterin and assistant to the company’s General Music Director (GMD), Cornelius Meister, from 2007 to 2011 and became Germany’s then youngest GMD in 2014 with her appointment at Theater Erfurt, the first woman to hold the post. She left Erfurt in 2018 to become GMD at Staatstheater Nürnberg, raising its artistic reputation and securing a devoted local following over the next five years. In April 2024 she was named Honorary Conductor of the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, an appointment without precedent since the orchestra’s foundation in 1922.
Opernwelt magazine named Joana Mallwitz its “Conductor of the Year” in 2019. She received the Order of the Bavarian Constitution in 2022 and, in 2023, was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The citation for the latter noted how the conductor “is celebrated for her precise and inspired work on the world’s concert podiums” and “represents the future of classical music”. Joana Mallwitz is also the subject of a major new feature-length documentary directed by Günter Atteln for Accentus Music. The cameras followed the conductor over a decisive two-year phase during which Mallwitz made her debuts in Munich, Paris, Salzburg and Amsterdam, and she and her husband had their first child. Offering a fascinating and candid portrait of all aspects of her life, Joana Mallwitz – Momentum was premiered in May 2024 at DOK.fest München.
7/2024