Axel Kober

GMD Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf / Duisburg
GMD Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra

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.

Since the 2009/10 season, Axel Kober has been General Music Director of Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, where he sets a distinctive course in a wide repertoire – from Rameau and Händel via Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Lehár, Strauss, Britten, Berg and Poulenc up to the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Gesicht im Spiegel. In addition, he became GMD of Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019, after having been Chief Conductor of this orchestra since 2017.

Axel Kober has been a regular guest at the Bayreuth Festival since 2013, where he has conducted revivals of Tannhäuser (directed by Tobias Kratzer in 2021 and 2022, among others) and Der Fliegende Holländer.
 
He also has 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 Hänsel und Gretel, Arabella, Fidelio, Mahler's 4th Symphony and Tosca there, and in the 2023/24 season, he is back in Vienna for Turandot and Rosenkavalier.

Further recent invitations lead him to Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Opéra National du Rhin, Semperoper Dresden and Opernhaus Zurich, as well as to concerts of Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recent Highlights at Deutsche Oper am Rhein include premieres of Die Tote Stadt, Wozzeck, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Kat’a Kabanova and Parsifal, a newly edited production of Tristan and Isolde as well as Der Ring des Nibelungen released on CD in Spring 2021. 

In addition to Düsseldorf/Duisburg and Vienna, the 2023/24 season will include opera engagements in
Hamburg, Berlin and Tokyo, as well as concerts with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Graz
Philharmonic Orchestra.

After studying conducting in Würzburg, first engagements took Axel Kober to Schwerin and Dortmund, before he became deputy, later acting GMD in Mannheim and music director of Oper Leipzig, where he also regularly conducted concerts of the Gewandhausorchester.