Peter Rundel

The deep penetration of complex scores of the most diverse styles and epochs up to contemporary music as well as his dramaturgical creativity make Peter Rundel a sought-after partner of leading European orchestras.

He is a regular guest conductor with the radio orchestras of BR, WDR, NDR, Saarländischer Rund-funks and SWR. Recent international guest engagements have taken him to the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera Roma, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as to Asia with the Tokyo Metropolitan and Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Following his recent successes at the Zurich Opera House with Stefan Wirth’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden with Massenet’s Werther, Peter Rundel is conducting music theater productions this season at the Ruhrtriennale, the Opéra National de Lyon and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival (world premiere of Isabel Mundry’s Im Dickicht). Peter Rundel has conducted opera premieres at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna Festival, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opera Vlaanderen, Teatro Argentino La Plata, the Ruhrtriennale and the Bregenz Festival. He has worked with renowned directors such as Peter Konwitschny, Calixto Bieito, Philippe Arlaud, Peter Mussbach, Heiner Goebbels, Carlus Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus) and Willy Decker. His operatic activities include traditional repertoire (including Die Zauberflöte at Deutsche Oper Berlin and King Kandaules, Hansel und Gretel, and The Marriage of Figaro at Volksoper Wien) as well as groundbreaking productions of contemporary music theater such as Stockhausen’s Thursday from LICHT, Massacre by Wolfgang Mitterer, and the world premieres of Georg Friedrich Haas’ Nacht und Bluthaus, Isabel Mundry’s Ein Atemzug–die Odyssee, and Emmanuel Nunes’ Das Märchen and La Douce. The spectacular Prometheus production he conducted at the Ruhrtriennale was honored with the Carl Orff Prize in 2013.

Born in Friedrichshafen, Peter Rundel studied violin with Igor Ozim and Ramy Shevelov and conducting with Michael Gielen and Peter Eötvös. From 1984 to 1996 he was a member of the Ensemble Modern as a violinist, with whom he also looks back on many years of collaboration as a conductor. He is also a regular guest with Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble intercontemporain and the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble. Following activities as musical director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders and the then newly founded Kammerakademie Potsdam, Peter Rundel took over the direction of the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música in Porto in January 2005. In the meantime, this ensemble for new music has celebrated successes at important festivals throughout Europe.

Peter Rundel dedicates himself with great commitment to the education of young musicians. In Porto he founded the Remix Academy for ensemble musicians and conductors. As musical director of the Taschenoper Festival (since 2019), he also installed an academy in Salzburg to promote young conductors in the field of contemporary music theater. In addition, he regularly teaches at international ensemble academies with the London Sinfonietta, the Ulysseus Ensemble (Manifeste Academy Paris), the Teatro alla Scala Milan, and the Lucerne Festival Academy, among others.

Peter Rundel has received numerous awards for his recordings of 20th-century music, including the German Record Critics’ Prize several times (Nono, Prometeo; Kyburz, ensemble and orchestral works; Reich, City Life; Furrer, Piano Concerto; Bertrand, Vertigo) as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (Barraqué, complete works), a Grammy nomination (Heiner Goebbels, Surrogate Cities) and an Echo Klassik (Sprechgesänge with Ensemble Musikfabrik).