ABOUT
"What is most captivating is the expressiveness of her playing and her impressive presence, which makes her the self-evident center of the action; she lives "her" music. "Her" is intentionally chosen because she makes the music entirely her own. She never delivers, but brings to life. Stylistically she is absolutely confident; her personal cadenza in the Mozart concerto and her sovereign conducting from the piano clearly prove that."
(Valérie Groß, Deutsche Grammophon - jury's verdict on the occasion of the awarding of the Maria-Ladenburger-Förderpreis 2020)
The German-Colombian conductor and pianist Anna Handler has been performing on stages and in concert halls around the world since her debut at Salzburg Festival in 2022.
In December 2024, Anna Handler was appointed Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a position she will begin in the 25/26 season, where she is scheduled to conduct eleven opera performances during her first season. She was previously a Dudamel Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 23/24 season and following her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall, she was immediately invited to conduct the orchestra at Hollywood Bowl in July 2025. After winning the Assistant Conductor position of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, appointed by Andris Nelsons, she is set to debut at Tanglewood Music Festival with the orchestra in August 2025. In the 25/26 season, she will make her subscription debut with Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Boston. Upcoming debuts also include Dresden Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic Brass and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Following her successful debut at the 2022 Salzburg Festival as Music Director of the Kát’a Kabanová for the renowned Opera Camp series, Handler has returned to the Salzburg Festival to conduct Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges in the 2023 season and Carl Orff’s Die Kluge in the summer of 2024.
Handler’s debuts with internationally renowned orchestras such as the LA Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony mark further highlights of her career to date. She has worked with soloists including Barbara Hannigan, Okka von der Damerau, Sabine Meyer, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Previously, Handler worked as an assistant with renowned conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, including conducting the incidental music from Mazeppa with the Berlin Philharmonic in Baden-Baden. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, she took over the musical direction of the production Eva und Adam, which premiered at the 2019 Munich Opera Festival. The production uses music from Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and was performed by young people from around Munich who came to Germany as refugees.
Handler grew up in Munich and initially studied piano and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich before continuing her studies at the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar, the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola and the Folkwang University of the Arts. She completed her master’s degree in conducting at the Juilliard School in New York in May 2023. At Juilliard, she was the first conductor ever to receive the prestigious Kovner Fellowship.
As director of the Ensemble Enigma Classica, which she founded in 2019, Handler works with renowned soloists. She is particularly interested in technology-supported music mediation in real time. Conducting from the piano and chamber music collaborations with violinist Laura Handler are an important part of her musical identity.
Handler received the Rising Star Award from the European Cultural Foundation Europamusicale and is a scholarship holder of the German Foundation for Musical Life. She was also awarded the Maria Ladenburger Prize for Music in cooperation with WDR, the Cusanuswerk Foundation and Deutsche Grammophon.
Anna Handler is represented worldwide by Tanja Dorn at Dorn Music.
"Anyone who wants to observe what is possible in terms of direct communication between an orchestra and its conductor must hear the Ensemble Enigma Classica under its founder Anna Handler. Every encouraging smile, every sharp look, every stimulating gesture leads to an immediately audible consequence in the excellent young musicians, who pay attention to their conductor as if hypnotized. But the Munich native, not yet in her mid-twenties, is infinitely more than a motivational coach: her conducting technique is impeccable." Michael Bastian Weiß, Abendzeitung München, 21.20.2020
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Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake
Experience how Tchaikovsky's timeless composition inspires a revamped story for a modern audience by featering selected pieces from the classic suite and, of corse, a dancing accompaniment.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake (excerpts)
TCHAIKOVSKY Sleep Beauty (excerpt)
TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture excerpt
About this Performance
Experience how Tchaikovsky's timeless composition inspires a revamped story for a modern audience by featuring selected pieces from the classic suite and, of course, a dancing accompaniment.
These 45-minute interactive Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts introduce young audiences to symphonic music. Before each concert, families are invited to participate in hands-on arts workshops.
This concert is recommended for children ages 5 to 11.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake (excerpts)
TCHAIKOVSKY Sleep Beauty (excerpt)
TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture excerpt
About this Performance
Experience how Tchaikovsky's timeless composition inspires a revamped story for a modern audience by featuring selected pieces from the classic suite and, of course, a dancing accompaniment.
These 45-minute interactive Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts introduce young audiences to symphonic music. Before each concert, families are invited to participate in hands-on arts workshops.
This concert is recommended for children ages 5 to 11.
March 31, 2024
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Zakhar Bron Festival Orchester
Interlaken, Switzerland. Congress Kursaal 5 pm
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Zakhar Bron Festival Orchestra
David Garrett, violin
Olga Scheps, piano
DVORAK Symphonie No. 9, Largo
SCHUBERT Symphonie No.7 "Unfinished"
GARRETT/HAYWOOD "Open World"
GLUCK Melody from "Orpheus and Eurydike"
KREISLER Liebesleid, Tempo di Minuetto
Minnesota Orchestra
SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture
HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Sinfonia antartica (excerpt)
James P JOHNSON Harlem Symphony (excerpts)
Gabriela Lena FRANK Leyendas, II & VI.
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1, movement 4 (excerpt)
Grazer Philharmoniker
MOZART Serenade No. 13 in G-Dur, KV 525 Eine kleine Nachtmusik
STRAVINSKY Concerto for chamber orchestra in E-flat Major Dumbarton Oaks
HAYDN Symphony No. 8 in G-Dur, Hob. I.8 Le Soir
june 14, 10 and 12 a.m. School concerts
june 15, 2 and 4 p.m. Family concerts
each lasting approx. 60 minutes
Speaker: Pia Amofa-Antwi
Soloists from the Munich Radio Orchestra: Stanko Madić (violin), Norbert Merkl (viola), Franҫois Thirault (cello), Alexandre Vay (cello) Ingo Nawra (double bass)
Conductor and harpsichord: Anna Handler
Excerpts from, among others:
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791), “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” in C major KV 525
J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings No. 5, F minor
G.F. Handel (1685-1759), Concerto for harp and orchestra in B flat major
P.I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Symphony No. IV in F minor
N. Paganini (1782-1840), Variations on “Il Carnevale di Venezia”
M. Bruch (1838-1920), Romance in F major op.85 for viola and orchestra:
A. Vivaldi (1678-1741), Concerto for 2 cellos in G minor RV 531
North Carolina Symphony
Anna Handler, conductor
Brahms: Tragic Overture
Haydn: Symphony No. 49 “The Passion”
Tchaikovsky: Selections from Swan Lake
July 26 - August 25, 2024
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Salzburger Festspiele : Carl Orff, The Wise Girl
Opera for children, Salzburg Festival
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JUNG & JEDE*R New production
Regie: Giulia Giammona
Conducter: Anna Handler
Carl Orff, The Wise
The Story of the King and the Wise Woman
Opera for Children
‘Oh, if only I had believed my daughter!’ laments the father. After all,
she had warned him about the king’s suspiciousness… When her father
discovers a valuable object, the king accuses him of keeping a part of
it for himself. The father is promptly thrown in prison. Hearing his cries
of woe, the king summons the man’s daughter. He poses three riddles,
which she solves without difficulty. Impressed by her cleverness, he
takes her as his wife. But when she exposes another error of judgement by the king, he casts her out and allows her to take only ‘what
her heart holds most dear’ with her…
Nine performers and an orchestra
of 15 musicians will explore pressing questions of justice and injustice,
power and powerlessness for a young audience. And the biggest
question of all: what does the wise daughter take with her?
Saturday, September 14
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Juilliard Orientation Orchestra
7:30pm, Peter Jay Sharp Theater NYC
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Juilliard Fall Festival
Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question
The New: Celebrating Charles Ives and American Experimentalism in Music, Dance, and Drama
18:15: Into the light I
hr symphony orchestra
Anna Handler Conductor
Guido Sant'Anna Violin
PROGRAMME
Max Bruch (1838-1920)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor op. 26
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 7 in B minor D 759
"Unfinished"
20:30 : Into the light II
hr-Symphony Orchestra
Anna Handler Conductor
Jaemin Han Violoncello
PROGRAMME
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
Vltava (The Vltava). Symphonic poem from the cycle "My Fatherland"
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Variations on a Rococo Theme for violoncello and orchestra op. 33
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Dances from Galánta
November 17, 2024
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New York Phil: Sound on - John Adams
6:30 pm Museum of Modern Arts NYC
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Co-Presented with the Museum of Modern Art
Musicians from the NY Phil perform works by a variety of composers with roots in America’s West Coast in a program curated by NY Phil 2024–25 season Artistic Partner John Adams.
Program:
Dylan Mattingly, Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things)
Gabriella Smith, Maré
Andrew Norman, For Chad
Anthony Cheung, pulsate, fixate
Anna Handler, Conductor
John Adams, Curator / Speaker
Ara Guzelimian, Speaker
December 19, 20, 22, 2024
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Philharmonic Orchestra Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg, Güstrow, Neustrelitz, Germany
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19.12., 7:30 p.m. Konzertkirche Neubrandenburg
20.12. 7:30 p.m. Güstrow, Ernst Barlach Theater
22.12. 6 p.m. Neustrelitz, Landestheater Neustrelitz
Neubrandenburger Philharmonie
Alexandra Segal, piano
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 2
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TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1 “Winter Daydreams”
February 7, 8, 9 2025
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State Youth orchestra Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Neustrelitz, Schwerin, Güstrow
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07.02. 2025 Ludwigslust, children's concert
Neustrelitz, State Theatre, 6 p.m.
08.02. 2025 Schwerin, Mecklenburg State Theatre, 7.30 pm
09.02. 2025 Güstrow, Ernst-Barlach-Theatre, 5 p.m.
Programme:
Johannes Brahms, Tragic Overture for Orchestra op. 81
Piotr I. Tchaikovsky, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major op. 35
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major op. 73
Soloist: Christina Nam
Conductor: Anna Handler
February 14, 15, 2025
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Rhode Island Philharmonic
Providence, RI. Veterans Memorial Auditorium
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Awadagin Pratt, piano
ADAMS Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra)
MONTGOMERY Rounds
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
BETWEEN WORDS AND WORLDS
Presented in partnership with Goethe-Institut Boston
Pre-Concert Talk at 6:30pm with Artistic Director Eric Nathan, composer Gabriela Ortiz and featured composers
Concert at 7:30pm
Anna Handler, CONDUCTOR
Tony Arnold, SOPRANO
Program:
Kareem Roustom: Xarja (2017)
Olga Neuwirth: Magic Flu-Idity (2018)
Gabriela Ortiz: El águila bicéfala (2005)
Intermission
Jingmian Gong: New Work (2025)
world premiere (Collage Commission)
Gabriella Smith: Anthozoa (2018)
Jörg Widmann: Sieben Abgesänge auf eine tote Linde (1997)
Mozart meets Klezmer
MOZART
Concerto in A major for Clarinet & Orchestra
David KRAKAUER/Kathleen TAGG
The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra
David KRAKAUER
Synagogue Wail for Solo Clarinet
David KRAKAUER
Der Heyser Bulgar
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 7 in A major
Boston Symphony Chamber Players
Anna Handler, conductor (Langer)
Gilbert Kalish, piano
Elena LANGER Five Reflections on Water, for winds and strings
Sofia GUBAIDULINA Sonata for double bass and piano
-Intermission-
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Bastian Spier, horn
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op. 21
MENDELSSOHN Incidental Music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op. 61
R. STRAUSS Horn Concerto No. 1
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MOZART Symphony No. 29
Bastian Spier, horn
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op. 21
MENDELSSOHN Incidental Music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op. 61
R. STRAUSS Horn Concerto No. 1
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MOZART Symphony No. 29
Dresdner Musikfestspiele
JAN VOGLER VIOLONCELLO
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC BRASS
ANNA HANDLER CONDUCTOR
Friedrich Gulda Concerto for violoncello and wind orchestra
as well as brass at its finest with works by Pat Ballard, Charlie Byrd, Astor Piazzolla and Dmitri Shostakovich, among others, moderated by Sarah Willis
June 23, 2025
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Orqestra Sinfonica del Pricipado de Asturias
8 pm Auditorio Príncipe Felipe Oviedo, Asturias
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San Juan in cinema
Soundtracks of John Williams
Symphonic Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias
Conductor: Anna Handler
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Anna Handler, conductor
Denis Bouriakov, flute
Emmanuel Ceysson, harp
Eunike TANZIL
Ode to the City of Dreams
world premiere
MOZART
Concerto for Flute and Harp
STRAUSS
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
Anna Handler, Conductor
Augustin Hadelich, Violin
Brahms, Tragic Overture
Schumann, Symphony No.4
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto
Purcell March from Funeral Music for Queen Mary
Haydn Symphony No.49 La Passione
Brahms Tragic Overture
Tchaikovsky Selections from Swan Lake
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756 - 1791]
The Magic Flute
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Production: Günter Krämer
Grand opera in two acts
Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Premiere on 30 September 1791 in Vienna
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 24 September 1991
3 hours / One intermission
In German with German and English surtitles
Georges Bizet [1838 - 1875]
Carmen
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Production: Ole Anders Tandberg
Opera in four acts
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée
Premiere on 3 March 1875 in Paris
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 20 January 2018
3 hours / One intermission
In French with German and English surtitles
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756 - 1791]
The Magic Flute
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Production: Günter Krämer
Grand opera in two acts
Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Premiere on 30 September 1791 in Vienna
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 24 September 1991
3 hours / One intermission
In German with German and English surtitles
Georges Bizet [1838 - 1875]
Carmen
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Production: Ole Anders Tandberg
Opera in four acts
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée
Premiere on 3 March 1875 in Paris
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 20 January 2018
3 hours / One intermission
In French with German and English surtitles
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756 - 1791]
The Magic Flute
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Production: Günter Krämer
Grand opera in two acts
Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Premiere on 30 September 1791 in Vienna
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 24 September 1991
3 hours / One intermission
In German with German and English surtitles
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756 - 1791]
Le nozze di Figaro
Musical direction: Anna Handler
Staging: Götz Friedrich
The Marriage of Figaro
Commedia per musica in four acts
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
World premiere on 1 May 1786 in Vienna
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 14 December 1978
3 hours 45 minutes / One intermission
In Italian with German and English surtitles
Bedrich Smetana
‘The Vltava’ Symphonic Poem
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Trumpet Concerto in E major
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 5 in F major
Anna Handler, conductor
Lucienne Renaudin Vary, trumpet
Dresdner Philharmonie
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