GENERAL MANAGEMENT
Axel Kober’s interpretations of a wide opera and concert repertoire grow on the basis of profound knowledge, enormous experience and a comprehensive musical sense into spheres of inspiring emotionality.
From 2009 to 2024 Axel Kober was General Music Director of Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, where he set a distinctive course in a wide repertoire and continuously developed the house, orchestra and ensemble through his ideas and tireless commitment. Outstanding productions include Wozzeck, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Peter Grimes, Castor et Pollux, Kat’a Kabanova, the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Gesicht im Spiegel, a newly edited production of Tristan and Isolde as well as the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen released on CD in Spring 2021.
His work at Deutsche Oper am Rhein was highly appreciated by the two orchestras, which he also regularly conducted in concerts. The collaboration deepened further in 2017, when the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra appointed Kober as its Chief Conductor, a role that evolved into General Music Director from 2019 to 2025.
As a guest conductor, Axel Kober built a special relationship with the Vienna State Opera, where he made his debut in 2016. In addition to his euphorically received Ring cycle in 2019 and the immediate re-invitation to further Ring cycles in 2022, he conducted Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Fidelio, Mahler's 4th, Tosca, Turandot, Macbeth and…
Axel Kober’s interpretations of a wide opera and concert repertoire grow on the basis of profound knowledge, enormous experience and a comprehensive musical sense into spheres of inspiring emotionality.
From 2009 to 2024 Axel Kober was General Music Director of Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, where he set a distinctive course in a wide repertoire and continuously developed the house, orchestra and ensemble through his ideas and tireless commitment. Outstanding productions include Wozzeck, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Peter Grimes, Castor et Pollux, Kat’a Kabanova, the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Gesicht im Spiegel, a newly edited production of Tristan and Isolde as well as the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen released on CD in Spring 2021.
His work at Deutsche Oper am Rhein was highly appreciated by the two orchestras, which he also regularly conducted in concerts. The collaboration deepened further in 2017, when the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra appointed Kober as its Chief Conductor, a role that evolved into General Music Director from 2019 to 2025.
As a guest conductor, Axel Kober built a special relationship with the Vienna State Opera, where he made his debut in 2016. In addition to his euphorically received Ring cycle in 2019 and the immediate re-invitation to further Ring cycles in 2022, he conducted Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Fidelio, Mahler's 4th, Tosca, Turandot, Macbeth and Parsifal in Vienna. In the 2026/27 season, he returns with The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Andrea Chénier and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Further regular invitations brought him to Bayreuth Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden and Opernhaus Zurich. In Tokyo, Axel Kober conducted Keith Warner’s Tannhäuser, Salome at Teatro alla Scala, led a new production of Tristan und Isolde at Opéra National du Rhin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Royal Danish Opera. In concerts, he conducted, among others, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Dresdner Philharmonie, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Sinfonieorchester Basel, RSO Prague, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Beyond his engagements in Vienna, the 2026/27 season brings Axel Kober back to the Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein, alongside his debut at Turin's Teatro Regio conducting Salome and first appearance with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.
After studying conducting in Würzburg, first engagements took Axel Kober to Schwerin and Dortmund, before he became deputy, later acting General Music Director in Mannheim and music director of Oper Leipzig, where he regularly conducted concerts of the Gewandhausorchester.
Conductor Axel Kober is the most important discovery for Viennese Wagnarians.
Thanks to his obvious capellmeister competence, he gets the orchestra to dare risky dramaturgical maneuvers, and wins across the board.
