News

29.02.2024

Award for the DNT Weimar!

The German Theatre Publishers' Prize 2024 goes to the music theatre department of the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar for its impressive efforts in the field of contemporary music theatre.

"The fact that music theatre is written and composed in our time for our time, and thus becomes an indispensable part of the repertoire, is both a commitment and a self-conception of Andrea Moses, Michael Höppner and Dominik Beykirch, who have headed the DNT's music theatre department since 2021. [...] With its decision, the jury honours the perseverance, passion and care with which the DNT is committed to contemporary music theatre," writes the Association of German Stage and Media Publishers (VDB).

07.02.2024

The first half of the year 2024

In the first half of 2024, Dominik Beykirch's program at the DNT Weimar will include new challenges and farewells to popular opera productions. The last performances of the FAUST Award-winning ARIADNE AUF NAXOS (director: Martin G. Berger) and I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI (director: Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito) will take place; new additions to the programme include IL TRITTICO (director: Dirk Schmeding). Further concerts, productions and guest engagements (including with the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt) round off the first few months of the new year.

Concert Diary

29. March 2024
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI (for the last time)

Opera by Vincenzo Bellini


6 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Directors: Jossi Wieler / Sergio Morabito

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details
03. May 2024
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER (The Flying Dutchman)

Opera by Richard Wagner


7.30 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Director: Barbora Horáková

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details
18. May 2024
IL TRITTICO – THE TRIPTYCHON (Premiere)

Opera cycle by Giacomo Puccini


7 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Director: Dirk Schmeding

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details
24. May 2024
IL TRITTICO – THE TRIPTYCHON

Opera cycle by Giacomo Puccini


7 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Director: Dirk Schmeding

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details
30. May 2024
IL TRITTICO – THE TRIPTYCHON

Opera cycle by Giacomo Puccini


7 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Director: Dirk Schmeding

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details
31. May 2024
PASSION :SPIEL 24 - OPERA FOR EVERYONE! (Premiere)

e-werk weimar


Details
06. June 2024
IL TRITTICO – THE TRIPTYCHON

Opera cycle by Giacomo Puccini


7 p.m., Großes Haus
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar


Director: Dirk Schmeding

Staatskapelle Weimar

Details

Career

BIOGRAPHY 2023-2024

The 32-year-old conductor Dominik Beykirch has been shaping the artistic profile of the Deutsches Nationaltheater (DNT) and the Staatskapelle Weimar since the 2015/16 season. Initially engaged as Kapellmeister, he was appointed "Chief Conductor Music Theatre" in 2020. With the 2023/2024 season, he will continue his ongoing work as music director.

Highlights of the 2023/2024 music theatre season at the DNT for Dominik Beykirch are the new productions of Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer directed by Barbora Horáková and Giacomo Puccini's opera cycle Il Trittico (director: Dirk Schmeding). The programme also includes Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in Martin G. Berger's award-winning production (FAUST Prize 2020) and Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, a joint work with Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito from spring 2023.

In the symphonic field, Dominik Beykirch will perform with pianist Frank Dupree, among others. The two artists share an intensive collaboration, particularly audible on the CD with Nikolai Kapustin's Fifth Piano Concerto (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Capriccio), which was released in February 2023. For this award-winning recording (International Classical Music Award, Diapason d'Or) Dominik Beykirch was nominated as Conductor of the Year for the OPUS-Klassik. Further CD recordings with works by the Ukrainian composer are planned. Dominik Beykirch returns to the Dresden Philharmonic and the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, among others, as a guest conductor. In Dresden he will conduct works by Richard Strauss, Korngold and Rachmaninoff (soloist: Cameron Carpenter), in Potsdam and Frankfurt/Oder works by Haydn, Orff and Mendelssohn.

With his opera conductorships at the DNT, Dominik Beykirch repeatedly sets internationally acclaimed standards. For instance, on his initiative, the opera Samson by the Swiss composer Joachim Raff was performed for the first time after 170 years in October 2022 (directed by Calixto Bieito) and the radio recording was broadcast in Austria and Switzerland, among other countries. In the 2019/2020 season, Dominik Beykirch celebrated great success with the opera Lanzelot by Paul Dessau, which was performed for the first time in 40 years. The journal "Opernwelt" awarded the production directed by Peter Konwitschny as "Rediscovery of the Year" and at the same time nominated Dominik Beykirch as "Conductor of the Year". The CD label Audite released the recording of the entire opera in January 2023. The recording, which received much attention from the press, was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize and the "CD of the Year" ("Opernwelt"), among others. His musical direction of new productions such as Aida (director: Andrea Moses) or L'italiana in Algeri (director: Tobias Kratzer) was also met with great response from audiences and the press.

Dominik Beykirch has already worked with numerous renowned orchestras, such as the symphony orchestras of the HR, MDR, WDR and SWR (German broadcast services), the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Jena Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Halle, the Bremen Philharmonic, the Nuremberg Symphony, the Philharmonie Zuidnederland (Netherlands), the Württemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen, the State Orchestra Rheinische Philharmonie, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Hofer Symphony and the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen. He has also been a guest conductor at the Leipzig Opera, the Kassel State Theatre and the Chemnitz Theatre and has conducted numerous performances at the Dresden State Operetta. He has also conducted important rehearsals for Markus Poschner, Andres Orozco-Estrada and Christoph Eschenbach, among others, and worked with soloists such as Jens Peter Maintz, Claudio Bohórquez, Nemanja Radulovic, Harriet Krijgh, Michael Barenboim and Jan Vogler.

In 2020, the album Clarinet Concertos was released on the Berlin Classics label, on which clarinettist Sebastian Manz interprets the Clarinet Concerto by Danish composer Carl Nielsen, composed in 1928, together with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken under the direction of Dominik Beykirch. Dominik Beykirch also recorded Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Dresden Philharmonic for Berlin Classics (narrator: Malte Arkona).

His numerous awards include the second prize of 10,000 euros at the German Conducting Prize 2017, first prize at the 6th German University Competition for Orchestral Conducting, as well as sponsorship prizes from the publishing houses Bärenreiter and Breitkopf & Härtel and the Ernst von Schuch Prize. Dominik Beykirch was a scholarship holder in the Conductors' Forum of the German Music Council and was on the artist list "Maestros of Tomorrow" from 2016 to 2019. He is also an alumnus of the German National Academic Foundation and a consultant for choral symphonies at Werkgemeinschaft Musik e.V. In the 2013/14 season, he was Michael Sanderling's assistant at the Dresden Philharmonic.

Dominik Beykirch completed his musical education at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in the conducting classes of Prof. Nicolás Pasquet, Prof. Gunter Kahlert and Martin Hoff in Weimar. At the same time, he received enriching artistic impulses from numerous master classes with Bernard Haitink, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Ton Koopman, among others. He now passes on his knowledge as a lecturer for the German Music Council (Conducting Forum) and as part of a teaching assignment at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music and Theatre in Leipzig.

Status: October 2023

Please contact us for changes and shorter versions.

Presse

 «Wenn Dominik Beykirch nicht sowieso schon ein Publikumsliebling in Weimar wäre – jetzt hätte der 29-jährige Kapellmeister der Staatskapelle, der obendrein das Material in aufwendiger Vorarbeit eingerichtet hat, wohl den letzten Zweifler überzeugt! Atemberaubend wie der den gewaltigen Orchesterapparat zusammenhält, zwischen entfesseltem Losdonnern und kammermusikalischer Rücknahme wechselt, die Sänger stützt und Freude an den zitierenden Passagen in Dessaus Partitur zelebriert.»

Joachim Lange
nmz
24.11.2019

 «Dirigent Dominik Beykirch hatte nicht nur Chormassen und Dutzende von Solisten unter Kontrolle zu halten, sondern auch vierzehn Bühnenmusiker, einen riesigen Orchesterapparat im Graben [...] Dabei verfiel er nicht in den Fehler, dieses wuchtige Werk auch wuchtig zu interpretieren, im Gegenteil, es waren gerade die intimen Stellen, die besonders beeindruckten, etwa ein Dialog von Lanzelot mit einem traurigen Cello.»

Peter Jungblut
BR-Bayerischer Rundfunk Kultur
23.11.2019

«[Beykirch] treibt die Musik in den Irrsinn und hält sie doch beisammen in diesen grotesken Finali, die so schnell sind, aber auch so sicher, sowohl vom Orchester als auch von allen Sängern […].»

Uwe Friedrich in „Fazit“
Deutschlandradio Kultur
15.10.2016
 

«Ob Rossini für den gewünschten Effekt eine gewagte harmonische Wendung wählt oder eine unverschämt banale – Beykirch entgeht nichts. Er hat jeden Stimmungswechsel genau studiert, bereitet die Wendepunkte elegant vor, unterstreicht sie mit wechselnden Klangfarben und originellen Orchesterdetails. Bei aller Freude an dieser Musik vergisst er jedoch nie, dass die italienische Oper dieser Epoche immer auch ein Sängervehikel ist.»

Uwe Friedrich
Opernwelt
Dezember 2016

«Der Staatskapelle Weimar unter der exzellenten Leitung ihres Zweiten Kapellmeisters Dominik Beykirch konnte man das Vergnügen an der Partitur anhören.»

Frauke Adrians
Opernwelt
Januar 2016

«Zum Triumph auf ganzer Linie wird seine erste eigene Operneinstudierung am Haus für den jungen Kapellmeister Dominik Beykirch. Er ermöglicht der Staatskapelle Weimar ein fantastisches Gemeinschaftserlebnis zwischen Bühne und Graben: Beykirch hat stimmig tolle Tempo- und Klangrelationen und ist ein echter szenischer Teamplayer.»

Roland H. Dippel
Die Deutsche Bühne
16.10.2016

«Dass sich das HR-Sinfonieorchester bei der Begleitung der Cellistin diskret, aber durchaus fein nuanciert zurückhielt, war dem zweiten Debütanten des Abends, dem Dirigenten Dominik Beykirch, zu verdanken. [...] Seine Zeichengebung ist bei aller Präzision wohltuend geschmeidig. Man sieht genau, welche Klangvorstellung er am Pult verwirklicht haben will. So konnte Beykirch schon bei der eingangs gespielten "Pulcinella-Suite" von Strawinsky mit einer Interpretation punkten, die rhythmische Finesse mit virtuoser Leichtigkeit und apartem Klangkolorit verband.»

Michael Dellith
Frankfurter Neue Presse
19.11.2016

Discography

Nikolai Kapustin

Nikolai Kapustin

With works by Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020): Piano Concerto No.5 op.72; Concerto for two pianos & percussion op. 104; Sinfonietta op. 49 for piano 4-hands.

Artists: Frank Dupree, Adrian Brendle, Franz Bach, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Dominik Beykirch.


It was a small miracle when Nikolai Kapustin's music was discovered by a wider audience in the West: Who was this Soviet (!) composer whose works sounded most like Oscar Peterson improvisations ... and yet were fully composed "classical" music, with complicated scores, all black with notes?! As we now discover more and more of Kapustin's music (and there is still a lot of unheard music!), despite all the supposedly familiar musical borrowings, a very individual, always enchanting voice crystallises: whether in such an unapologetically jazzy piece as the Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion, the symphonic 5th Piano Concerto or the cheeky Sinfonietta, which seems to transport us to a smoky bar in 1940s Manhattan.


Release date: 03.02.2023
Label: Capriccio
Youtube | Buy on JPC

Lanzelot – Oper von Pauls Dessau

Lanzelot – Oper von Pauls Dessau 

Works by Pauls Dessau (1894–1979).

Artists: Emily Hindrichs, Mate Solyom-Nagy, Oleksandr Pushniak, Chor des Theaters Erfurt, Staatskapelle Weimar and Dominik Beykirch. 


Lanzelot only saw three productions during Dessau's lifetime, after which the play disappeared from the stage, and a recording was never produced. It was only 50 years after the premiere that the National Theatre Weimar and the Erfurt Theatre dared to take on the challenges of the play again. Lanzelot was staged in Weimar at the end of 2019 by Peter Konwitschny and directed by Dominik Beykirch, but unfortunately, the Erfurt takeover was thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic. This edited recording demonstrates the power of Paul Dessau's music and its message, which is still burningly relevant today, three decades after the end of the Cold War.


Release date: 05.01.2023
Label: Audite
Youtube | Buy on JPC

Malte & Mezzo – Die Klassikentdecker: Peter und der Wolf

Malte & Mezzo – Die Klassikentdecker: Peter und der Wolf

Text version by Loriot
With works by: Sergeij Prokofieff (1891-1953)

Artists: Malte Arkona (narrator), Dresdner Philharmonie and Dominik Beykirch.


Mezzo finds simply walking through the forest boring, he would much rather relax at home and put his feet up. If only there was a chip tree! The only thing that helps is an exciting story that has been told for many years. A scary wolf is spreading fear and terror. It's suddenly so quiet on the pond. Where is the grumpy duck? Can the cat in the tree hold back its hunger? Or will it get in the way of Peter and the brave bird? Because the two of them already have a plan that Peter's grandfather and the tipsy hunters can only marvel at...


Release date: 26.03.2021
Label: Berlin Classics
Youtube | Buy on JPC

Sebastian Manz – Clarinet Concertos
Nielsen & Lindberg

Sebastian Manz – Clarinet Concertos
Nielsen & Lindberg

With works by: Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), Magnus Lindberg (born 1958)

Artists: Sebastian Manz (clarinet), David Fernandez Alonso (French horn), Marc Trenel (bassoon), Dominik Manz (cello), Lars Olaf Schaper (double bass), Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Dominik Beykirch, Magnus Lindberg.


On his new album, Sebastian Manz explores the clarinet concertos by Danish composer Carl Nielsen and Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. Both are known for creating overwhelming, abstract sound structures that allow the nature of their home countries to appear before their listeners like a sound painting. Together with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, Sebastian Manz presents three works that transport the listener to Nordic landscapes and paint audible sound pictures despite their musical complexity.


Release date: 04.09.2020
Label: Berlin Classics
Youtube | Buy on JPC

Media

In the media kit, you will find high-resolution print photos available free of charge as well as my curriculum vitae in Word format. I would be delighted to receive a copy of any review or article.

Contact

GENERALMANAGEMENT
GRUNAU & PAULUS MUSIC MANAGEMENT

JONAS GRUNAU
T: +49(0)5121 7558421
M:+49(0)179 922 1569
grunau@grunau-paulus.com

Dominik Beykirch
info@dominik-beykirch.de

Impressum
Information according to § 5 TMG

Publisher and responsible:
Dominik Beykirch
Steubenstraße 35
99423 Weimar

Contact:
E-mail: info@dominik-beykirch.de 
Phone: +49 3643 858770

English Translation (in parts): Cosima Hofacker
Photos: Nikolaj Lund

Website by schech.net

Kontakt
Impressum