Around the Music Festival

The Bruckner Orchestra Linz in Austria, has announced that Austrian conductor Christoph Koncz will become its next chief conductor. His term will begin in the 2027/2028 season and last for five years.He will succeed Markus Poschner, who has held the position since the 2017/2018 season and will step down at the end of the 2026/2027 season.

Koncz was born in Konstanz, Germany, in 1987 and is 37 years old. Since 2023, he has served as music director of the National Orchestra of Mulhouse in France, as well as principal conductor of the Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein in Germany and principal guest conductor of the Louvre Palace Orchestra.

He was raised in an Austrian-Hungarian musical family, and his older brother is a cellist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He attracted attention as a violinist from an early age and gained popularity when he was cast as a child prodigy violinist in the 1998 film “The Red Violin.”

After studying at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and other institutions, he joined the Vienna State Opera Orchestra in 2008 at the age of 20. While serving as principal player of the second violin part, he gained conducting experience through masterclasses with Daniel Barenboim and others.

He made his conducting debut at the Salzburg Mozart Week in 2013 and left the orchestra in 2023 to focus on his conducting career.

PHOTO：Staatskapelle Dresden 　/　Oliver Killig