Mihkel Kütson

Estonian conductor Mihkel Kütson has been General Music Director of the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker and Theatre Krefeld Mönchengladbach in Germany since the 2012/13 season, with his contract extended through 2032/33. In the current season, he conducts premieres of Verdi’s Otello and Puccini’s La Bohème, alongside revivals of Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, and I Pagliacci.
Born in Tallinn, he studied there and in Hamburg Music and Theatre Academy with Prof. Klauspeter Seibel as a DAAD scholar, and was further shaped by masterclasses with Kurt Sanderling, Fabio Luisi, and Kurt Masur. At 27, he became Music Director of the Vanemuine Theatre in Estonia. Engagements have included the Hanover State Opera (First Kapellmeister), and from 2007 to 2012 he served as General Music Director in Schleswig-Holstein.
Kütson’s repertoire spans more than 70 stage works, including Wagner, Strauss, and Britten. He has appeared at major opera houses such as Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin and Deutsche Oper am Rhein and has conducted leading orchestras including Staatskapelle Dresden, DSO Berlin, the WDR, SWR and NDR Symphony Orchestras, Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Taiwan.
In Greece, his collaborations include the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra (TSSO) and the Athens State Orchestra.
He received the German Conductors’ Award in 2006 and the OPUS KLASSIK 2022 for a recording of works by Alexander Glazunov.