Kansas City Symphony to Embark on Inaugural European Tour With New Music Director Matthias Pintscher

KANSAS CITY, Mo. | February 27, 2024 — The Kansas City Symphony proudly announces its first-ever European concert tour in August 2024, marking a significant milestone in the orchestra’s 42-year history. Led by the Symphony’s incoming Music Director, Matthias Pintscher, the orchestra will be presented by Amsterdam’s storied Concertgebouw, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and one of the most prominent music festivals in Europe – Musikfest Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Under Pintscher’s musical leadership, the orchestra looks forward to representing the vibrant performing arts of Kansas City, Missouri on the global stage, bringing programs of largely American works. “We are honored and excited to receive this distinguished invitation, recognizing the exceptional talent and dedication of our musicians,” expressed Danny Beckley, President and CEO, the Kansas City Symphony. “This European tour is not only a testament to the orchestra’s artistic achievements, yet also an opportunity to showcase our versatility and mastery of the symphonic art form. Audiences can anticipate an enchanting musical journey featuring classical masterpieces.”

In spring 2023, the orchestra unveiled the extraordinary news of Matthias Pintscher’s appointment as the next Music Director, sparking global interest. Invitations from prestigious venues and festivals like Musikfest Berlin, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam followed suit, marking a significant milestone for the orchestra.

Pintscher expresses enthusiasm for the journey, stating, “Performing in three of the top halls in Europe, we will showcase music that has shaped our identity as musicians. Touring presents a unique challenge as we showcase our artistic versatility, adapting our sound to different venues. It’s a time for exploration and can be an energetic, uplifting bonding experience — a real source of pride among our team. We are ready for this challenge and eager to demonstrate how American musicians perform at the highest level.”

Pintscher adds, “The new hall in Hamburg is spectacular. I conducted there during its opening season and wrote the first piece performed in the hall. This opportunity is a gift and tribute to the people of Kansas City, as we assume the role of ambassadors in three breathtaking cities. This will be a powerful and joyful experience.”

Beckley continues, “We aim to bring concerts to Europe radiating from the heart of America. Kansas City, a significant cultural destination, takes pride in having built an orchestra representing our thriving metropolitan city on the world stage.

Acclaimed pianist Conrad Tao joins the orchestra for the tour, playing George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Tao, dubbed “the kind of musician shaping the future of classical music” by New York Magazine, is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Gilmore Young Artist.

Read the full press release.

Matthias Pintscher returns to the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

On 25 February, Matthias Pintscher returns to the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) to conduct a programme including Wagner’s Siegfried-Idyll, Debussy’s Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune and Iberia from images for orchestra alongside the German premiere of Peter Eötvös’ Harp Concerto with French harpist Xavier de Maistre following the World Premiere in Paris in January. Matthias’ return to the RSB follows his recent performances with the Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya in Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, and European tour earlier this month with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen performing concerts at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie and Die Glocke Bremen. Matthias’ own work Assonanza für Violine und Kammerorchester with violinist Leila Josefowicz was featured alongside Ravel’s Ma mère l'Oye and Schumann’s Symphony No. 1.

Matthias Pintscher awarded Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

December 2023

Matthias Pintscher has been awarded the title Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of the Arts and Letters) by the French government. The Order of Arts and Letters is a decoration awarded by the Republic of France to “artists, writers or intellectuals who have distinguished themselves for their creations in the artistic or literary domain, or for the contribution they have made to the splendour of the arts and letters in France and the word”.

Matthias has just concluded a successful decade-long tenure as the Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain (EIC), the iconic Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez and winner of the 2022 Polar Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy. During his stewardship, Pintscher led this most adventurous institution in the creation of dozens of world premieres, recorded CDs of music by cutting edge composers from all over the world and took the ensemble on tours around the globe–to Asia and North America and throughout Europe to all the major festivals and concert halls.

Matthias Pintscher begins residency with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie 

Matthias Pintscher begins his residency this week with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie as Composer-in-residence which sees Matthias’ solo, chamber and orchestral compositions featured throughout the 2023/24 season.

For tonight’s appearance at Kölner Philharmonie, Matthias conducts his 2020 work for orchestra, Neharot, alongside Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau and Mendelsson’s Violin Concerto with Noa Wildschut. The programme will be repeated tomorrow at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.  

Later in the season, the orchestra is joined by soloist Emmanuel Pahud for Matthias’ Transir for flute and chamber orchestra conducted by Anu Tali across four performances in January, followed by four performances in February of a programme that includes Beyond II for harp, flute and viola, and Uriel for violoncello and piano.  

March sees the orchestra team up with soloist Leila Josefowicz for Matthias’ Mar’eh for violin and orchestra alongside works by Sibelius and Bartók for performances at Aschaffenburg Stadthalle, Friedrichshafen Graf-Zeppelin-Haus, Wiener Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie and Dresden Kulturpalast, all conducted by John Storgårds.

Matthias returns to the Staatsoper Berlin

On 18 May, Matthias Pintscher returns to the Staatsoper Berlin to conduct Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer in a production directed by Philipp Stölzl. The return follows Matthias’ recent appointment as the fifth Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony from the 2024-25 season for an initial term of five years. Performances of Der Fliegende Holländer run May 18, 21 and June 3, 7 and 11. Find out more here.

Matthias Pintscher named Music Director of Kansas City Symphony

The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) has announced the appointment of conductor-composer Matthias Pintscher as its fifth Music Director. He takes over from Michael Stern at the beginning of the 2024-25 season for an initial term of five years.  

Matthias was offered the role just days after his debut with the orchestra this past March. The performance was met with standing ovations and a five-star review from Bachtrack, who praised the conductor’s “keen musical intelligence, palpable verve and energy, as well as an impeccable command of timing.”  

Danny Beckley, President and CEO of the Kansas City Symphony, said, “The Kansas City Symphony first saw Matthias Pintscher on the podium on a Wednesday. The following Monday, I called to ask him to be our next Music Director! That’s how electric their rapport was from the first. We are committed to making orchestral music more appealing to a far wider audience, and I think Matthias can really help make that happen.” 

Matthias is currently in his tenth and final season as Music Director of Ensemble Intercontemporain. Of the new appointment he said, “Right from the start, the Kansas City Symphony and I shared an extraordinary level of trust and joy in music-making. Their playing was inspired, which I found immensely inspiring in turn. I felt truly welcome: welcome as the musician I am.” 

Matthias Pintscher conducts Mahler Symphony No. 7 as Creative Partner of the Cincinnati Symphony

This weekend, Creative Partner of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Matthias Pintscher, returns to the orchestra to conduct Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in two performances on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 April. Commenting on the performances, the Cincinnati Business Courier said:

"Pintscher’s leadership was unflagging and inspired. Even the finale, which is often hard to pull off, was riveting. In the end, it was a virtuoso showpiece for orchestra and, for both Pintscher and the musicians, a triumph."

The review follows Matthias’ ongoing three-year relationship to date with the orchestra and he will return next season to conduct performances including Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, a Word Premiere and CSO Commission of a new Piano Concerto by Inti Figgis-Vizueta and Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 “Spring” among other works.

Matthias Pintscher returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

This week Matthias Pintscher returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam on Friday 14 April and Philharmonie Essen on Saturday 15 April. The programme features works by Nina Senk (Concerto for Orchestra) and Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin Op.19. Also on the programme making its Dutch premiere (originally scheduled for 2021) are two new parts to Matthias’ work Shirim for baritone, chorus and orchestra with Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans as soloist.

Matthias Pintscher and the Ensemble intercontemporain return to tour the USA

This March, Matthias Pintscher and the Ensemble intercontemporain return to tour the USA with concerts in Houston (23 March), New York – Carnegie Hall (25 March) and Miami – New World Centre (31 March & 1 April).

In his decade-long artistic leadership of the EIC, Matthias has continued and expanded the cultivation of new works by emerging composers of the 21st century, alongside performances of iconic works by the pillars of the avant-garde of the 20th Century. This repertoire will be celebrated throughout the tour and will culminate in performances in collaboration with musicians from the New World Symphony at the New World Centre in Miami including Olivier Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles which was commissioned in 1971 and performed in 1974 to celebrate the bicentenary of the independence of the United States.

Matthias returns to the BRSO

This week on Friday 17 March, Matthias Pintscher returns to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks as part of the Musica Viva Concert Series. The programme will include Shaar for string orchestra by Iannis Xenakis as well as Matthias’ own work, Neharot for orchestra. Neharot (Hebrew for “rivers” or “tears”), is a musical reflection on “devastation and fear, and the hope for light, that have left such a deep emotional imprint on this period of our existence” - Pintscher. The work is dedicated to those who suffered during the pandemic.

A new work entitled Atara by Chaka Czernowin will finish the programme. A lament for orchestra and two amplified voices, the work has been commissioned by the Bavarian Radio’s Musica Viva Series and Vienna Modern with the Freunde des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks e.V. This performance will be the German premiere.

Matthias debuts with Philadelphia Orchestra and Kansas City Symphony

Over the coming months, Matthias Pintscher will make multiple debuts in North America including with the Kansas City Symphony (March 3, 4 & 5) and the Philadelphia Orchestra (April 29 & 30). Matthias will travel to Kansas to conduct a programme including Ligeti San Francisco Polyphony Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major (with George Li, piano) and Rapsodie espagnole and Scriabin  Poem of Ecstasy. In Philadelphia, Matthias will make his debut conducting Webern’s Im Sommerwind, Strauss Oboe Concerto (with Philippe Tondre) and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.3.

In addition, this season Matthias continues to make regular visits to Cincinnati Symphony as their Creative Partner and returns engagements with the Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New World Symphony. 

Matthias Pintscher returns to the Berliner Philharmoniker

On February 16, 17 and 18 Matthias Pintscher returns to the Berliner Philharmoniker to conduct a programme including Zimmermann Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu, Martinů Rhapsody-Concerto für Viola und Orchester and György Ligeti’s Requiem featuring soloists Amihai Grosz (Viola), Makeda Monnet (Soprano), Donatienne Michel-Dansac (Mezzo-soprano). In his first appearance with the orchestra since 2015, Matthias replaces Sir Simon Rattle who is undergoing minor surgery. Over the coming months in Europe, Matthias will also return to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw and to the Berliner Staatsoper in 2023 for Die Fliegende Holländer. 

Read more & watch on the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall.

Polar Music Prize 2022

Matthias Pintscher and the Ensemble Intercontemporain have been awarded the Polar Music Prize! The awards ceremony takes place on Tuesday 24 May in Stockholm at the Grand Hotel, and will be broadcast live in Sweden on TV4 at 8pm (CET). It can be viewed throughout Europe via TV4 Play from 5.30pm (CET).
Learn more

Matthias Pintscher debuts with the Staatskapelle Dresden

The 3rd February sees Matthias Pintscher makes his debut with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, where he is Composer-in-Residence. Alongside Anton Webern’s early symphonic poem Im Sommerwind and Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Op. 45, Matthias will conduct the German premiere of his latest orchestral work.

Written in New York at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Neharot – which means ‘rivers’ or ‘tears’ in Hebrew – is a musical reflection on the devastation and fear, but also the hopeful search for light, that was emblematic of the time.

Immediately following his appearance in Dresden, Matthias will conduct the Orchestre Suisse Romande in the Swiss premiere of Neharot, to be broadcast on RTS-Espace2, in a programme that includes Dukas La Péri as well as the Rachmaninov. Other future highlights include a return to the Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya for their Rachmaninoff Festival and the Swiss premiere of his concerto Assonanza IIwith the Musikkollegium Winterthur in April. Matthias will also join the Staatsoper Berlin at the end of April for a revival series of Lohengrin directed by Calixto Bieito.

Read more

Capell-Compositeur of the Staatskapelle Dresden

Matthias Pintscher has been named Capell-Compositeur of the Dresden Staatskapelle for the 21/22 season. Learn more

World premier of beyond II (bridge over troubled water)

During the “Festival of New Music”, curated by Daniel Barenboim and Emmanuel Pahud, which is happening at Berlin’s Boulezsaal from July 9 to July 12, 2020, Matthias Pintscher’s new work beyond II (bridge over troubled water) for Flute, Viola and Harp will be premiered. The programs will then remain available for free on-demand viewing and listening for 30 days. Learn more!

Creative Partner of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has appointed Matthias Pintscher to a three-season position as its new Creative Partner beginning in the 2020-21 season. In this new role, Pintscher will collaborate with music director Louis Langrée and CSO administration on programming, recommending works, composers and commissions, and he will conduct a minimum of two programs each season. In his first season as Creative Partner, Pintscher brings Leila Josefowicz and the violin concerto written for her by Andrew Norman, paired with Mahler's Symphony No. 7; his second program will be part of CSO’s Proof series, with programming curated by Pintscher and featuring Michelle DeYoung.

Says Louis Langrée of Pintscher’s appointment: "I am thrilled to welcome Matthias Pintscher to our Cincinnati Symphony family. Matthias is a unique personality in the musical world. His deep knowledge of repertoire covers centuries of music and at the same time he is in the center of creation, both as a composer, conductor, and champion of the music of our time. He is a passionate advocate and leader for music new and old, and his approach to music-making makes him a perfect partner for the CSO."

Ojai Music Festival: Incoming Artistic Director Matthias Pintscher announces
the 74th Festival, June 11 to 14, 2020

“It is a tremendous pleasure and incredible honor to be music director for the 2020 Ojai Festival, something I have dreamed about since moving to New York twelve years ago. I feel a combination of joy and responsibility to showcase composers and works that create something like an INVISIBLE BRIDGE between the two continents in which I am living and working: Europe and the USA. I have realized that my role as musical communicator – as composer, conductor, educator, and festival director – is to actively strengthen the interactions and connections between the music of today and its heritage in the US and on the “old continent”. As a European living in New York and Paris, I want to explore this INVISIBLE BRIDGE as one of the key elements for my programming of the 2020 Ojai Festival: thoughtful, innovative, loving, provocative, and poetic. Music speaks most directly from human to human, and Ojai is a perfect place to showcase this. I am excited. See you in 2020. – Matthias Pintscher, 2020 Music Director

Matthias Pintscher is 18-19 Season Creative Chair
for the Tonhalle Orchester of Zürich

Matthias Pintscher can be experienced as conductor, composer and educator in various concerts throughout the season. Check his schedule for details!

NEW ALBUM: "Bereshit" with the Ensemble Intercontemporain

Matthias Pintscher's newest recording together with the Ensemble Intercontemporainfeatures three of his own recent works:
Bereshit, Uriel and Songs from Solomon's Garden. The album is released on Alpha Classics on November 18, 2016.
Watch the trailer on the right to learn more!

NEW MANAGEMENT: Matthias Pintscher signs with Askonas Holt

Matthias Pintscher is the inaugural resident composer of the
ELBPHILHARMONIE HAMBURG

Matthias Pintscher's conducting debut with the BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER

30. August LUCERNE FESTIVAL - "EIN TAG FÜR PIERRE BOULEZ"

Matthias Pintscher is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, effective from the 2024-25 season. He has just concluded a successful decade-long tenure as the Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the iconic Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez and winner of the 2022 Polar Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy. During his stewardship, Pintscher led this most adventurous institution in the creation of dozens of world premieres, recorded CDs of music by cutting edge composers from all over the world, and took the ensemble on tours around the globe – to Asia and North America, and throughout Europe to all the major festivals and concert halls.

The 2023-24 season will see Pintscher in his fourth year as Creative Partner at the Cincinnati Symphony, where he will conduct a new work by inti figgis-vizueta, as well as an immersive video-concert of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles. He will also tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie where he is artist in residence. As guest conductor, he returns to the RAI Milano Musica, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, NDR Hamburg, Indianapolis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, La Scala, and Berlin’s Boulez Ensemble. Pintscher has conducted several opera productions for the Berliner Staatsoper (Wagner’s Lohengrin and The Flying Dutchman), Wiener Staatsoper (Olga Neuwirth’s Orlando), and the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris. He returns to the Berliner Staatsoper in 2024 for Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee.