Friederike Scheunchen

Conductor Friederike Scheunchen has an exceptionally broad repertoire spanning opera, symphonic and ensemble music—from early music to contemporary works and experimental formats. She has conducted Ensemble Modern, the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker (debut 2026), Ensemble Musikfabrik, the Göttinger Symphonieorchester, Klangforum Wien (debut 2027), the Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Trier, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Ensemble Resonanz, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Ascolta, the Bundesjugendorchester, the Freiburger Barockorchester (debut 2026), SWR Vokalensemble and many others. She has appeared at renowned venues including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Harvard University (USA), and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, where she collaborated with Matthew Herbert to live-score music for a Bundesliga football match.

Alongside her international freelance work, she has been engaged as conductor and assistant to General Music Director André de Ridder at Theater Freiburg since 2023. There, she has served as music director for several operas, including Neuro-Moon (Sara Glojnarić, world premiere), p r i s m (Ellen Reid, world premiere), and Alles durch MOW (Schöllhorn/Koffler, world premiere). She has also conducted productions of Jenůfa (Leoš Janáček), Doctor Atomic (John Adams), Alcina (Georg Friedrich Händel), and Pique Dame (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky), as well as symphony concerts and numerous family concerts.

Scheunchen has been involved in more than 350 world premieres and collaborates with many contemporary composers. Her conducting is closely intertwined with her interest in curating and different concert formats. She founded Ensemble Scope for interdisciplinary projects. Since 2021, she has been supported by the Forum Dirigieren of Deutscher Musikrat, since 2023 part of the prestigious ‚Konzertförderung’. From 2021 to 2023, she held a scholarship at the Akademie Musiktheater heute. In 2024, she received the Reinhold-Schneider-Preis scholarship from the City of Freiburg. At the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, she leads the master’s program in New Music Interpretation and directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble.