Sascha Goetzel

Viennese-born conductor Sascha Goetzel acted as the KSO Principal Conductor in 2007-2013.

The Viennese conductor Sascha Goetzel has crafted a dynamic global reputation as both a music director and guest conductor. As Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra since the 2008/2009 season, he has raised the ensemble to even higher artistic standards and garnered it international recognition with appearances at the Salzburg Music Festival, BBC Proms, Hong Kong Arts Festival several European tours with concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Het Concertgebouw and Theatre Des Champs Elysee among others. Maestro Goetzel has previously held titles with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, Kuopio Symphony in Finland, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and the Austrian Korean Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the Artistic Director of Istanbul’s Barış İçin Müzik Vakfı/Music for Peace Foundation (El Sistema Turkey) and works closely with young people in music education, development and performance.

Maestro Goetzel’s conducting recent guest engagements include the NHK Symphony, Münchner Symphoniker, Brandeburgisches Staatsorchester, Teatro Communale Bologna, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Slovak National Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique Nancy, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Pays de la Loire, Dresden Philharmonic at the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Große Orchester Graz at the Stefaniensaal Graz, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Kioi Sinfonietta, National Orchestra of Belgium, and Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Upcoming guest engagements for the 2018/19 season include the Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, the London Philharmonic, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Orchestra de Chamber de Paris, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Romanian National Radio Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic and others.

Goetzel has worked with soloists including like Daniil Trifonov, Vadim Repin, Yuja Wang, Rudolf Buchbinder, Murray Perahia, Maxim Vengerov, Arcadi Volodos, Julian Rachlin, Nemanja Radulovic, Daniel Hopeand Branford Marsalis.

Goetzel is also highly regarded as an opera conductor and has appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper, Marrinsky Theatre, Wiener Volksoper, Opera Anger-Nantes,Opera de Montpelier, Tokyo Nikkikai Opera Company at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Tiroler Landestheater, Opera de Rennes, Opéra National de Lorraine à Nancy.

His 2014 direction of Le Nozze di Figaro at Wiener Staatsoper garnered high praise and re-engagement to conduct six more operas- Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Die Zauberflöte, and Die Fledermaus – in the coming seasons. He has conducted many famed singers in operas and concerts including Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming, Joyce Di Donato, Roberto Alagna, Juan Diego Flores, Thomas Hampson, Bryn Terfel, Piotr Beczala, Thomas Hampson and Michael Schade,Bo Skovhus, and Ian Bostridge

Recording on Deutsche Grammophon and Onyx labels, Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic have released international award winning albums: Khatchaturain: Violin Concerto(2018), Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Rococo Variations (2017), Carmen (2016), Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (2014), Music from the Machine Age (2012), and Sascha Goetzel conducts Respighi, Hindemith & Schmitt (2010).