VASSILIS CHRISTOPOULOS IS ONE OF GREECE’S MOST RENOWNED CONDUCTORS, EQUALLY AT HOME ON THE CONCERT PODIUM AS IN THE OPERA PIT.
As of September 2023 he is Chief Conductor of Graz Opera, where his first two opera productions, Macbeth by Verdi and Sleepless by Peter Eötvös, were greeted with critical acclaim. He is especially praised for his sensitive and compelling accompaniment, for extracting a wide, nuanced dynamic range out of the orchestra, for producing a transparent sound as well as “dark, almost Rembrandtesque colours” (Kleine Zeitung).
In 2022 he gave his successful US début with Eugene Onegin during San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season.
In 2017 he inaugurated Greek National Opera’s new venue in Athens with the company’s first ever Elektra by Richard Strauss. The production turned out to be a triumph and Christopoulos has been welcomed back as a guest conductor for several productions since, including Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Shostakovich, Bluebeard’s Castle by Bartók, and Madama Butterfly. In 2020 he was the “chief driving force” behind the first Wozzeck in the GNO’s history, a production with which the company “arrived on the international stage” (Financial Times).
He has conducted prestigious orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra, German State Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Flanders Symphony Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Frankfurt (HR-Sinfonieorchester), Saarbrücken (Deutsche Radio Philharmonie), Hannover (NDR Radiophilharmonie), and Cologne (WDR Funkhausorchester), the Nuremberg State Philharmonic, the State Orchestras of Darmstadt, Kassel and Wiesbaden, Bremen Philharmonic, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as all major Greek orchestras.
As Artistic Director of the Athens State Orchestra from 2011 to 2014, he raised the standard of performance dramatically. Reviews became consistently enthusiastic, praising him as “great reformer”; ticket sales doubled despite the harsh financial crisis. Under his direction, the Orchestra supported young soloists and composers, commissioning and premièring 14 new compositions in three years; performed in virtually every corner of Greece including many remote islands; introduced a wide-ranging social and educational program; and won major national and European design awards for its new image.
From 2005 to 2015 he was Chief Conductor of the Southwest German Philharmonic Orchestra of Constance, again responsible for significant and unanimously recognized improvement in performance: under his artistic leadership, the number of subscribers exceeded the mark of 2.500 for the first time in the orchestra's history (from a small town population of app. 85.000); the Orchestra acquired new permanent posts, and toured with great success at renowned festivals and concert halls in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Greece, France, Spain, China, Japan, as well as throughout Germany.
In 2013 he was awarded Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Republic.
In 2016 he was appointed Professor of Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt.
Vassilis Christopoulos studied oboe and music theory at the Athens Conservatory and orchestral conducting at the “Hochschule für Musik” in Munich with Prof. Hermann Michael. He was an oboist with the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra for three years.
He is fluent in seven languages.
Updated March 2024