Roger Epple

Dirigent | Conductor

"Straight from the lovely Allgäu to the thriving global music metropolises around the world"

… this very aptly encapsulates the path of German conductor Roger Epple.

With his broad repertoire, ranging from classical concert and opera to contemporary and crossover genres of classical music, his analytical capabilities and musical intelligence, he is an appreciated conductor to acclaimed top-notch orchestras all over Europe, Asia and the Americas.

For many years now, Roger Epple has been inspired by the music of Gustav Mahler, driving him to continuously explore, rethink and interpret Mahlers’ work through which he has gained an exceptional expertise for the composers’ work.

The result was an interpretation in which one could notice the conductor’s familiarity with Mahler’s specific tonal vocabulary, characteristic spirit and with the vast dimensions of Mahler’s mighty movements.
Mahler’s 9th symphony
(Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung)

In close collaboration with important contemporary composers, Roger Epple has been contributing towards numerous world premieres and recordings.

He has also repeatedly committed himself to the rediscovery of forgotten and formerly proscribed composers, for which he has received several awards.

As principal conductor, music director and welcome guest conductor of about a hundred orchestras worldwide, he can refer to an extensive repertoire in both the symphonic and opera field, including over one hundred opera productions alone.

With the superbly featured Saarland State Orchestra, Roger Epple brilliantly demonstrated the complexity of Strauss’ composition. He skillfully approached the work with profound analysis, thereby achieving transparent, lucid contours and truly magical timbres.
Premiere of the Rosenkavalier
(opera glass magazine)

“I consider Roger Epple a highly sensitive, deeply aware young artist whose talent is rooted in his giftedness, decency and musical intelligence.”
Hans Werner Henze

Biography

Roger Epple has been acknowledged as one of the most distinguished German conductors of his generation. Following permanent conducting posts at the Leipzig Opera House as well as the Mannheim National Theatre, he for many years has been holding the position of the Music Director at the Halle Opera House and the Oldenburg State Theatre.

He has conducted more than one hundred renowned orchestras in Asia, North America, Central America, South America and Europe including the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Leipzig, and the SWR, the Orchestre National de Belgique in Brussels, the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan as well as most of the German state orchestras and many outstanding special ensembles such as Concerto Köln and Ensemble Modern.

As a guest conductor he has been working at the Berlin State Opera (Ariadne on Naxos), the Hamburg State Opera (Fidelio), the Deutsche Oper Berlin (The Magic Flute), Paris (Elegy for Young Lovers), the Leipzig Opera (Cosí fan tutte), the Graz Opera House (Enrico), the National Theatre in Munich (Kassandra), the Aalto Theatre in Essen (Rake’s Progress), the Stuttgart State Opera (Wozzek), the Cologne Opera (The Cunning Little Vixen), not to mention the many music festivals he was booked for at the cities of Lucerne, Florence, Verona, Dresden, Strasbourg or Munich.

To date, he has led about one hundred classical music productions, while on the symphonic concert stage having established himself, among other things, as a proven specialist in the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.

The Echo Classic and BMW Music Theatre Award winner has recorded numerous CDs for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Wergo, Capriccio and CPO.

More than forty world premieres by composers from all over the world attest to his interest in contemporary classical music. Beyond that, he has also repeatedly committed to the rediscovery of compositions banned during National Socialism, having conducted the world premieres of pieces by Egon Wellesz, Berthold Goldschmidt or Paul Dessau.