Teodor Currentzis
Conductor
Teodor Currentzis is the Founder and Artistic Director of the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir. From 2018 to 2024 he was the Chief Conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra. In 2022 he founded Utopia, an international festival orchestra, and became its Artistic Director.
Teodor Currentzis was born in Greece, where he began studying music. In 1994 he entered St. Petersburg State Conservatory to study under the legendary professor Ilya Musin.
In 2004, Teodor Currentzis founded the musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir. Together with musicAeterna, he works on medieval sacred music, baroque opera and experimental pieces by modern avant-garde composers, including scores he has specifically commissioned.
Together with his ensembles, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe and the world with performances in numerous prestigious venues including Berlin Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Munich Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Auditorio Nacional de Música, Palau de la Música, L'Auditori, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, and La Scala. As a stage conductor and musical director, Teodor Currentzis has worked with the leading opera theatres including Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real, and the Bolshoi Theatre. He has also collaborated with the key figures in modern Western theatre: Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, and others. Teodor Currentzis is a Resident Artist at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the RUHRtriennale Festival, festivals in Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence.
Since 2012, he has been the Artistic Director of the Diaghilev Festival, which takes place in Perm, the hometown of the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev.
Conducted by Teodor Currentzis, musicAeterna has recorded with Sony Classical the works by Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, and Stravinsky. These recordings have received prestigious music awards: ECHO Klassik, Edison Klassiek, Japanese Record Academy Award, and BBC Music Magazine’s Opera Award.
In 2024, Teodor Currentzis launched his own record label, Theta, in collaboration with Outhere Music. The label is named after the Greek letter Θ (Theta), a nod to Currentzis’s Greek heritage. Theta is focused on recording the vast repertoire performed by his various ensembles, beginning with Utopia. The first releases are devoted to Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, both scheduled for 2025.