German conductor Lothar Zagrosek began his musical career as a member of the Regensburg cathedral choir. He studied conducting with Hans Swarovsky, Istvàn Kertész, Bruno Maderna and Herbert von Karajan.
After first posts as General Music Director in Solingen and in Krefeld-Mönchengladbach, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna. He then spent three years at the helm of the Paris Opera, during which period he was also Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and, subsequently, became General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera. For many years, he was associated with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie as First Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor. From 1997 to 2006 Lothar Zagrosek was General Music Director of the Stuttgart State Opera. During his highly successful tenure, this company obtained the critics' award "Opera Company of the Year" five times, he himself was named "Conductor of the Year" twice. From 2006 to 2011 he served as Chief Conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.
Internationally acclaimed for his operatic work, he appeared at many leading houses such as the Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and at the Glyndebourne Festival. Guest engagements of the past years led him to Teatro Fenice in Venice, Korean National Opera in Seoul (Parsifal), Staatsoper Hamburg (Katja Kabanova) and Deutsche Oper Berlin where he conducted a new staging of Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern. For this performance, he was consequently elected "Conductor of the Year"a third time. Important new productions of recent years include Berg’s Lulu with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Elektra at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Braunfels’s Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna at the Opera Cologne and for a particular rarity, the trilogy The Dictator / The Secret Kingdom / Heavyweight or The Pride of the Nation by Ernst Krenek at the Oper Frankfurt. At the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl, he received great critical acclaim for Walter Braunfels' rarely performed opera Die Vögel.
In concert, Lothar Zagrosek worked with many of the major international orchestras including Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, all major German radio orchestras, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National de France, Atlanta Symphony, Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal and NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. He appeared at prestigious festivals such as Wiener Festwochen, Berliner Festwochen, the London Proms, the Munich Opera Festival and the Salzburg Festival.
Lothar Zagrosek is a well-known champion of contemporary music and caused a sensation which performances by works such as Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore or Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern in Stuttgart which were both released on CD. He is a regular guest at the festivals for contemporary music in Donaueschingen, Berlin, Brussels and Paris. His recordings for Decca’s series "Entartete Musik", including works by Ernst Krenek, Viktor Ullmann, Hanns Eisler (all of them with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig), Berthold Goldschmidt, Walter Braunfels and Hans Krasa enjoy reference standard. His extensive discography also includes other outstanding repertoire of the 20th century such as Dantons Tod by Gottfried von Einem, Olivier Messiaens' Saint François d'Assise and the complete recording of all works for choir and orchestra by Paul Hindemith. Wagner's entire Ring, featuring the much acclaimed production of the Stuttgart State Opera, is available on CD (Naxos) and DVD (EuroArts). The label Altus released live CDs of works by Beethoven, Schubert, Webern and Bruckner with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Several of his recordings received major international awards, including the Edison Prize, the Cannes Classical Award and the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis or were nominated for the Grammy.
Being passionate about musical education and the support of young talent, Lothar Zagrosek is Patron of the "Offensive for Cultural Education" in Berlin and Chairman of the Artistic Advisory Council of the Conducting Forum of Deutscher Musikrat, and he also was chairman of the jury of the German Conductors’ Award. Lothar Zagrosek was awarded the “Hessischer Kulturpreis“ as well as the “Critics Award“ by the Association of German Critics for his excellent musical achievements and received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
