Sascha Goetzel

Conductor
Written By Boudewijn Dekker
Goetzel-BW17-18.jpg

Sascha Goetzel

Conductor

Representation in the Benelux

Contact:
E: leontien.vandervliet@interartists.nl
T: +31 6 5 24 68 707

Beethoven 9 exerpt

New CD release 17 October 2025. Goetzel tells about the repertoire: Potpourri of Ernst Krenek, Overture of Franz Schreker and Sinfonietta of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

A dynamic, charismatic, and compelling musical presence on the podium, Sascha Goetzel has emerged as a multifaceted conductor—a remarkable orchestra builder, creative programmer, entrepreneur, educator, and advocate for musicians and artists. He is currently serving as Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, a post he has taken on for an initial four-year term beginning in September 2022, as well as Music Director of the Ulsan Philharmonic since March 2025. In addition to these positions, in the 24/25 season Sascha Goetzel was appointed Principal Guest Conductor by the Timisoara Philharmonic in Romania and by the Krakow Philharmonic in Poland.

Former Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Goetzel contributed significantly to the ensemble during his eleven-season tenure. His imaginative programming, award-winning recordings, and widely praised performances— including tours to the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Hong Kong Arts Festival—are among his notable accomplishments.

Over the last years, Goetzel has been a highly sought-after guest conductor with a number of internationally prominent orchestras like the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de France, Yuomiuri Symphony Orchestra, Toyko Metropolitan Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, and Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna—collaborating with major soloists, among them Daniil Trifonov, Rudolf Buchbinder, Joyce Di Donato, Yuja Wang, Nemanja Radulovic, Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, Fatma Said, Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Bryan Terfel, Brandford Marsalis and Murray Perahia, among many others.

In 2014, he made an electric debut at the Vienna State Opera conducting Le Nozze di Figaro, which led to six return engagements—productions of Fledermaus, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Magic Flute and Rosenkavalier. Goetzel has also appeared at the Mariinsky Theatre, Zürich Opera House, Tokyo Metropolitan Opera, Tokyo Nikikai Opera Company in Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan, Opéra de Nantes-Angers, Opera de Rennes, Wiener Volksoper and Opéra de Montpellier. Recently, in the 23/24 season, Goetzel had great successes with the productions of Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedicte in Angers, Nantes and Rennes, as well as with Orpheus et Euridice with the Reiseopera in the Netherlands. In the 24/25 season, he led Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in Trondheim and Kristiansand.

Goetzel has released several Award winning CDs in both, orchestral and as partner for Solo concerti/Arias including winning albums on the Deutsche Grammophon, WARNER, Onyx and Naïve labels featuring works by Hindemith, Bartok, Schulhoff, Berlioz, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov and Respighi.

Committed to music education and an advocate for the arts in general, Goetzel is founder of the ORPHEUS-WIEN foundation for the digital transformation of the arts, Co-Director and Co- Founder of the Opera by the Fjord Academy and Festival, an innovative academy and festival for aspiring singers and instrumentalists in partnership with the Bergen National Opera. Co- founder and CCO of the Vienna Art Network, Artistic Director of Music for Peace (El Sistema- Turkey) and a conducting mentor at Dirigentloftet, a program in Norway focused on developing young conductors.

Born and raised in Vienna, Goetzel trained as a violinist and began his studies with Richard Österreicher in Austria and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. He furthered his education in the United States, working with Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Andre Previn, Zubin Mehta, and Bernard Haitink. In addition to attending the Music University in Graz and Brooklyn College, Goetzel was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival for two summers. His previous posts include Principal Guest Conductor of the Kanagawa Philharmonic (2013-2017) and the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne (2012-2015), as well as Principal Conductor of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, in Finland (2006-2012).

Highlights 2025-26

17 October 2025:
Release CD on BIS label: Schreker Die Gezeichneten; Korngold Sinfonetta, Krenek Potpourri - Spotify link

24, 25, 27 December 2025
Beethoven 9 with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo

22 February 2026
Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Stuttgart Phlharmonic. Beethoven Symphony no. 7 and Rachmaninov Paganini Var.

8, 10, 12 March 2026:
Messiaen Les ofrrandes Oubliées, Alma Mahler Lieder and Gustav Mahler Symphony no. 4 with Annika Synnove Beinnes, soprano and the ONPL Orchestra

20, 21, 22 March 2026
Sibelius Violin Concerto and Brahms Symphony no. 68 with Krakow Philharmonic

 
 

Reviews

“Excitement is also conveyed by the image sequence in Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Sheherazade”, that Sascha Goetzel’s theatrically elegant conductor stick doesn’t treat like a hot thriller ready to explode, but rather ensures melodic flexibility and structured contours. Nothing sounds blunt or generalized even during the violent crash of the shipwreck.”
— Nürnberger Zeitung
“The Viennese conductor Sascha Goetzel, who has already been very successful at the Staatsoper, was invited for the first time to the “Konzerthaus” with his Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and was celebrated by an enthusiastic audience for an exciting, energetic, boldly programmed, sensitive as well as dramatic, musical concert.”
— Kurier
“Goetzel animated the Turkish orchestra to absolute precision. He has raised the artistic level of the orchestra considerably since 2008.”
— Schwäbische Zeitung
“The program was selected for panache, dynamism, dance, and was performed also in that spirit, it downright ignited like a firework. A wonderful advertisement for more unusual choices. The fact that, in music, ecstasy requires the greatest discipline was apparent in every aspect of this orchestra, and it also showed a friendly but decided leading conductor.”
— Frankfurter Rundschau
Boudewijn Dekker
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