Biography
Andreas Hotz is artistic director of Theater Osnabrück. After winning prizes at the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition and the German Conductors’ Award, he embarked upon a successful career. He took up his post in the 2012/2013 season as one of the youngest artistic directors in the whole of Germany. The press praise his conducting for its combination of musical energy and analytical precision, attention to detail and transparency. His career path has been lined with the diverse experiences of a classical German “kapellmeister”, with spells as assistant conductor at the Staatstheater Mainz and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. He has worked for many years with orchestras including the Bremer Philharmoniker, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Melbourne Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys close relationships with several orchestras in Korea. Following a highly acclaimed production of Mozart’s THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO at the National Opera in Seoul, he has been invited back regularly to conduct both concerts and opera.
Alongside a deep commitment to Classical and Romantic repertoire, Andreas Hotz is increasingly turning his focus to recently unearthed works from the early 20th century. With operatic rediscoveries of Albéric Magnard’s GUERCOEUR (2019), Hans Gál’s LIED DER NACHT (2017), the CD recording of which was nominated for the Opus Klassik prize, and Manfred Gurlitt’s SOLDATEN (2015), he is forging a wider and enduring reputation for the Osnabrück Symphonierorchester as an excellent and dynamic ensemble for original musical undertakings.
A vigorous champion of contemporary music, he regularly commissions new works, such as those in recent years from Detlev Glanert, Philipp Maintz and Elena Firsova.
Music without borders
As artistic director of Theater Osnabrück and chief conductor of the Osnabrücker Symphonieorchester, Andreas Hotz has been responsible for over 20 opera productions since 2012, conducting over 175 performances. With hugely successful productions such as Busoni‘s DR. FAUST (2018), LOHENGRIN (2016) and a concertante ELEKTRA (2016), he has repeatedly brought the qualities of Theater Osnabrück to the attention of the broader musical world.With the Osnabrücker Symphonieorchester as ambassadors of “Osnabrück — City of Peace”, he has undertaken numerous concert tours fostering international relations to cities including Volgograd, Moscow, Kiev and Minsk. This focus will be sharpened further in the 2019/2020 season, the 100thanniversary of the orchestra, with works including Britten’s War Requiem. Highlights of the season will be a two-day Beethoven symphony cycle, and Richard Wagner’s Meistersinger.
Significant milestones
Born in the centre of Germany in the Rhein-Main region, Andreas Hotz soon expanded his conducting horizons. He spent two successful seasons at the Staatstheater Mainz, during which he particularly raised the profile of the orchestra in Szymanowski’s KÖNIG ROGER, and directed performances and new productions of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, TANNHÄUSER and IDOMENEO. Even prior to this, he acquired a broad spectrum of operatic repertoire in his post as assistant conductor at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, which laid the foundations for his career. This repertoire included modern works such as Peter Maxwell-Davies’ THE LIGHTHOUSE, rediscoveries such as Zemlinsky’s KÖNIG KANDAULES, and also classics such as OTELLO, NORMA and IL TROVATORE. At Theater Osnabrück he finally embarked upon a sustained and enduring artistic development. He invigorated the concert programming by considerably diversifying their repertoire, set up numerous successful concert series, and redoubled the orchestra’s outreach work. Furthermore, he has fostered awareness of historically informed performance practice and the use of original instruments.
Early experiences
Andreas Hotz received his musical education in Frankfurt, where he was first immersed in the world of opera as répétiteur at the Opera House. Soon thereafter he was appointed professor of conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts. A very significant role in his artistic development was played by the Conductors’ Forum of the German Music Council, which supported him for many years. Through them, he not only forged contacts with numerous German ensembles, but also received lasting inspiration from eminent conductors. Pierre Boulez and Reinhard Goebelin particular became influential mentors.
Having successfully replaced an indisposed conductor in a performance of THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO without rehearsal at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the way was paved for a promising career. Guest conductor invitations then followed from a number of German orchestras, from the opera houses in Wiesbaden and Nürnberg, and then from Israel, Australia, Poland, Russia and Korea. In 2015 he was nominated by the publication “Opernwelt” for the New Generation Conductor of the Year.
Numerous CD recordings underline his commitment to forgotten orchestral literature. Recordings of works by Christian Westerhoff, and the Opus Klassik-nominated CD of Hans Gál’s LIED DER NACHT testify to this. The DVD recording “Beethoven in Stalingrad” was awarded the German Music Critics’ Award.