Teodor Currentzis

He is a conductor whose incandescent aura can capture an entire concert hall in the space of a few seconds: Teodor Currentzis made this much clear at his first Hamburg appearance at the Laeiszhalle in 2016. He soon turned into a regular guest at the Elbphilharmonie: the audience favourite has given 20 concerts in the Grand Hall to date, more than almost any other conductor. At the beginning of the season Currentzis now presents Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, whose nickname »Babi Yar« refers to a ravine near Kiev where one of the biggest massacres of the Second World War was carried out in 1941 – a work of distressing topical relevance. In June 2024, he ends his tenure as principal conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra with a performance of the »War Requiem« that Benjamin Britten wrote as a musical warning against war.