Staatskapelle tour: Two female conductors instead of Thielemann

Christian Thielemann will not lead the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden on the last tour of his tenure. The outgoing chief conductor had to hand over the baton at short notice due to illness, the orchestra announced on Tuesday. He will be replaced by "two of the world's leading female conductors". Lithuanian Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will conduct the concerts with pianist Lang Lang at the Semperoper at Whitsun, in Vienna on May 29 and in Hamburg on June 1. The Frenchwoman Marie Jacquot will then perform at the European guest appearances in Paris, Essen, Cologne and again in Vienna.

Gražinytė-Tyla, Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2022, is considered a connoisseur of the French repertoire and made her debut with the Staatskapelle at the end of 2023. Jacquot, first guest conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra from 2026, made her debut with the Staatskapelle in the 2022 Advent concert.