Marko Letonja

Musical and artistic director of the Orchestra since 2012, the Slovenian conductor is also musical director of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra (since the 2018/2019 season) and honorary conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He studied piano and conducting at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, also took conducting lessons with Otmar Suitner at the Academy of Music and Theater in Vienna where he graduated in 1989. Two years later, he became musical director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Ljubljana, which he conducted until 2003, being at the same time invited to the phalanx desk such as the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra or the "Giuseppe Verdi" Symphony Orchestra of Milan . Appointed permanent conductor and musical director of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and Opera in 2003, Marko Letonja turned to the opera scene and directed new productions there until 2006 (Tannhäuser, La Traviata, Der Freischütz, Boris Godounov , Tristan and Isolde, Rigoletto and Don Giovanni). He also recorded several CDs with this group, including the complete symphonies of Felix Weingartner.

His vast repertoire makes Marko Letonja a highly sought-after guest conductor, notably by the Vienna State Opera (La Dame de pique and Les Contes d'Hoffmann), the Grand Théâtre de Genève (Médée and Manon), the Dresden Opera. (Nabucco) or the Scala of Milan (The Makropoulos Affair, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, etc.). In Strasbourg, he directs numerous productions of the Opéra national du Rhin: La Valkyrie, Le Crépuscule des dieux, Le Vaisseau fantôme, L'Affaire Makropoulos and Parsifal.

Update November 2020