StephanZilias

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Conductor
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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Jack Haynes

Jack Haynes

Artist Manager
Edward Pascall

Edward Pascall

Associate Director

For contracts, logistics and press:

Joy Pidsley

Joy Pidsley

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

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About Stephan

General Music Director: Staatsoper Hannover

Stephan Zilias is General Music Director of Staatsoper Hannover. Holding the position since 2020 he was recently invited to extend his contract until August 2026. His successful tenure has seen Stephan conduct titles including Mefistofele, Rusalka, La Juive, Carmen, Otello, Lear and Parsifal, among others. The theatre won Best Opera House at the 2020 Oper! Awards and has received multiple nominations by Opernwelt Magazine, including Best Opera House and Rediscovery of the Year for Marschner's Vampyr.

The 2024/25 season sees Stephan conduct performances of Salome, Rosenkavalier, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Martinů’s The Greek Passion in Hannover. Elsewhere, he makes his Opera Vlaanderen debut leading a production of Der Freischütz with performances in Ghent and Antwerp. In 2023, Stephan made debuts with Theater an der Wien in a production of Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are and Savonlinna Opera Festival with a production of Lohengrin.

Stephan maintains a close relationship with Deutsche Oper Berlin since stepping down as Kapellmeister and assistant to Donald Runnicles in 2020 and returns this season for performances of Fidelio and Langgaard’s Antikrist.

On the symphonic stage, Stephan continues to curate a successful concert series in Hannover and makes his debut with NDR Radiophilharmonie for the 2024 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition. Other recent highlights include debuts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Staatstheater Nuernberg and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.

Stephan is based in Hannover

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Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow Stephan

Season Highlights

Sep 2024
NDR Konzerthaus
Final of the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition NDR Radiophilharmonie, Debut
Oct 2024
Staatstheater Hannover
Strauss: Salome Staatsoper Hannover
Oct 2024
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Beethoven: Fidelio Deutsche Oper Berlin

News

Press

  • Wagner, Lohengrin

    Savonlinna Opera Festival
    Jun 2024
    • The fact that everyone, including the stage music, came together throughout the evening is thanks to the coordination of Hanover's General Music Director Stephan Zilias, who impressed with his very fine conducting.

    • Wagner's music is enchanting, full of symbolism and intense emotion. At many points you feel like crying or laughing. The Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra, composed of Finland's top musicians, led by conductor Stephan Zilias, conveys these emotional avalanches excellently.

    • Lohengrin is an experience of a lifetime because the music is good, and it is performed with care. The conductor Stephan Zilias and the choirmaster Jan Schweiger have done - and are doing - an excellent job. The dynamics of the orchestra and choir are excellent. Despite the distances, Wagner's longitudinal flow of music keeps the whole working together, and of course, under Zilias' clear direction, nothing less can be expected.

    • On the podium of the Savonlinna Opera Festival, conductor Stephan Zilias – a career mainly in the German area – confidently guided the Finnish instrumentalists, drawing clear and precise sounds.