Around the Music Festival

Flanders Opera（Opera Vlaanderen）, based in Ghent, Belgium, has announced that German conductor Stephan Zilias will be its next music director. The term will begin in the 2026/2027 season. Zilias has served as general music director of the State Theater Hannover since 2020.

Flanders Opera is the Belgian national opera company that oversees theaters in Ghent and Antwerp. Since the 2019/2020 season, Jan Vandenhouwe has served as artistic director, and Argentine conductor Alejo Pérez has served as music director. Zillias will succeed Pérez.

Zillias, 40, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. He studied piano and conducting in Cologne, Düsseldorf, and London, and made his debut at the Cologne Opera in 2011 and at the Bregenz Festival in 2013.

He has served as conductor at the Mainz State Theater, Lüneburg City Theater, and Bonn City Theater before assuming his current position. He recently made his Flanders Opera debut this February, conducting Weber’s “Der Freischütz.”

PHOTO：Ulmer Philharmoniker　/　Volkmar Könneke


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