BERLIN – Berlin said on Wednesday that German maestro Christian Thielemann would succeed world-renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim as general musical director of its State Opera following his resignation due to ill health.
Argentina-born Barenboim, 80, announced in January that he was stepping down at the fabled institution, one of Europe’s most prestigious classical music venues, after he was diagnosed with a “serious neurological condition”.
Berlin’s top culture official Joe Chialo said Thielemann, who has frequently stepped in to conduct the opera’s Staatskapelle house orchestra, would succeed Barenboim from September 2024.
Chialo said the choice of Thielemann was the “wish of the orchestra”, calling him the “perfect successor” to Barenboim and representing “the highest musical excellence”.
The venue on the Unter den Linden boulevard is one of three…
