Christian Schumann
The German conductor Christian Schumann, born in 1983, has appeared in a number of opera productions across Europe. He has conducted the Berlin premiere of Peter Eötvös’s opera Angels in America, excelling also in a critically-acclaimed new production of Peter Eötvös’ Three Sisters at Teatro Colón. He has also performed Peter Eötvös’ operas Die Tragödie des Teufels and Lady Sarashina at Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, respectively. At Grand Theatre Avignon he conducted a double-bill featuring Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Eötvös’ Senza Sangue.
Schumann’s special affinity for film music has led him to conduct major projects often to arena audiences, such as at the Krakow Film Music Festival in summer 2017 (Neverending Story) as well as four open concerts with Het Gelders Orkest in the Netherlands, and four major recent major tours across Germany and Austria featuring such classics as Star Wars, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, James Bond, The Jungle Book and Ratatouille. In 2021/22 Schumann returned to Aarhus Symphony Orchestra performing the paradigmatic Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back.
Schumann first came to international attention when he won First Prize at the International Conducting Competition in Budapest. He then went on to secure the International Allianz Academy for Conductors Scholarship, which led to several important debuts including appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. Since then, he has worked with a number of important orchestras including Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Staatskapelle Weimar, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and Turku Philharmonic. New music groups included Ensemble Intercontemporain, Remix Ensemble Porto and Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik.
Christian Schumann has conducted many recordings for film and video games including the original scores by Philippe Schoeller (J’accuse with SWR Sinfonieorchester), Pascal Schumacher (L’enigme with WDR Funkhausorchester Köln) and Johan Söderqvist (Battlefield 1 & Battlefield Expansion with Philharmonia Orchestra and the LSO, respectively).