Denmark’s Copenhagen Philharmonic Announces New Chief Conductor

German conductor Christoph Gedschold will assume the position as of the 2024/25 concert season for a four-year period

For the role of chief conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), German conductor Christoph Gedschold, 46, will succeed Toshiyuki Kamioka, who has served the position since 2016.

Alongside this role, Gedschold is also new chief conductor at Oper Leipzig, where he has led the world-renowned Gewandhausorchester Leipzig since August 2022.

Though he will start his four-season tenure at CPO (also known as the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra) from the 2024/25 season, he will lead the ensemble in December 2023 and February 2024. His appointment is supported by the Augustinus Foundation.

Gedschold has worked with CPO before, having led a concert with them in Vienna’s Musikverein in September 2022, performing Carl Nielsen’s “Helios Overture” and music by Schumann and Beethoven. 

As a student, Gedschold was an accompanist at the Internationales Opernstudio in Zurich’s opera house. In 2002, he became Kapellmeister and répétiteur at Luzerner Theater. He assisted Ulf Schirmer at the Bregenz Festival in 2005 and later moved to the Nuremberg Opera House.

In 2009, he was appointed first Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe and from 2015, was Kapellmeister at Oper Leipzig. His conducting engagements have included Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester.

“I am incredibly happy and honored to become the new chief conductor of the fantastic Copenhagen Phil,” Gedschold said. “From the first moment I felt an incredible connection with the musicians, both musically and humanly. The rehearsals and especially the concerts with this wonderful and innovative orchestra have been joyful and mutually inspiring.”

“It's a real scoop for the Copenhagen Phil to be able to bring Christoph Gedschold to the country as a new chief conductor,” said the orchestra’s music director Peter Lodahl. “After the orchestra in recent years stabilized and raised its level significantly, it has become possible to attract the biggest names in the classical music industry. 

“Christoph is the chief conductor we had at the top of the bucket list, and we dreamed of. He's not the archetypical maestro known from the past, but a modern-blooded musician who communicates respectfully with the orchestra as an equal colleague and sparring partner.”