Conductor
Evan-Alexis Christ
Born in Los Angeles into a family of musicians with Greek roots, Evan-Alexis Christ spent his childhood in Las Vegas. He played oboe and piano at an early age and studied mathematics and composition at Harvard University and conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music.
Since 2020 he has worked regularly with the Sofia National Opera in Bulgaria. There he led the Bulgarian Premiere of Richard Strauss' Elektra, and Ariadne auf Naxos and premieres of the complete Ring and Lohengrin of Richard Wagner in addition to numerous repertory performances. In October 2023 he made his Asian Debut, conducting Elektra at the Daegu Opera in South Korea and was invited back for a new production of Der Rosenkavalier in 2024. In 2023/2024 he was the Chief Conductor of the Sarajevo Philharmonic for its 100th anniversary season. Joining prominent guest artists such as Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta he conducted several programs throughout the year. Since 2022 he has been a regular guest conductor in Germany with the Nürnberger Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie-Westfalen, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie and the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira in Portugal.
He has worked extensively with German orchestras and opera houses, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester, NDR Radiophilharmonie, SWR Symphonieorchester, MDR Sinfonie-Orchester, WDR-Funkhausorchester, Bremer Philharmoniker, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Hannover, Theater Bonn, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Aalto-Theater Essen and the Nationaltheater Mannheim. Internationally he has collaborated on return engagements with the Zagreb Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2011, conducting Salvatore Sciarrino's opera Macbeth with the Klangforum Wien.
Evan-Alexis Christ has gained recognition for his innovative concert programs. His cycles of the complete Mahler and Beethoven symphonies and the complete Ring by Richard Wagner were regarded with critical acclaim. He has conducted 65 world premiere performances and numerous film music, midnight, educational, flash-mob and cross-over programs. In addition, he has conducted more than 60 stage productions, including all of the standard Mozart operas and numerous German, Italian and French repertoire.
Evan-Alexis Christ was Music Director of the Brandenburg State Opera in Cottbus from 2008 to 2018, making him at the time one of the youngest music directors in Germany. The orchestra made several recordings and international tours for the first time in their 100-year history. In 2011 the orchestra won the publishers prize (Boosey and Hawkes, Peters, Breitkopf, etc.) for the best concert program of all German orchestras. In 2010 the citizens of the city of Cottbus voted Christ "Cottbuser of the Year." In the regular subscription series, the audiences went from 70 to 95 percent capacity. From 2009 to 2018, they performed a world-premiere performance in every subscription concert and collaborated regularly with contemporary music ensembles Court-Circuit Paris and Ensemble Mosaik Berlin. The high quality of the orchestra's artistic work was recognized and supported by numerous generous grants (Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation, Berlin Academy of the Arts, German "Excellent Orchestra landscape" National Foundation and Impuls Neue Musik).
After a brief stint in 2003 as vocal coach at the Portland Opera (USA), he was First Kapellmeister and Associate Music Director at the Würzburg Opera between 2003 and 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he was First Kapellmeister at the Wuppertal Opera.