Teodor Currentzis

Teodor Currentzis (Greek: Θεόδωρος Κουρεντζής Greek: [θɛˈɔðɔrɔs kurɛnˈʣis]; born 24 February 1972) is a Greek conductor, musician and actor.

Teodor Currentzis
Currentzis at the Perm Opera, 2016
Born	(1972-02-24) 24 February 1972 Athens, Greece
Occupations	Conductor composer actor recording artist
Style	Classical music
Website	www.teodor-currentzis.com

Biography

Currentzis was born in Athens, and at the age of four began to take piano lessons. At age seven, he began violin lessons. He entered the National Conservatory, Athens at the age of twelve, in the violin department. In 1987, aged fifteen he began composition studies under Professor George Hadjinikos, and then in 1989 under Professor B. Shreck. From 1994 to 1999, Currentzis studied conducting supported by a scholarship from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation in the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin.

From 2004 to 2010, Currentzis served as principal conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, where in 2004 he founded the Orchestra MusicAeterna and later the Chorus MusicAeterna. In 2009, Currentzis acted in Ilya Khrzhanovsky's film Dau (Russian: Дау) based on the biography of the physicist Lev Landau. In February 2011, Currentzis became music director of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, to which he brought both of his MusicAeterna groups.

In 2011, Currentzis became principal guest conductor of the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Effective with the 2018–2019 season Currentzis became the first chief conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester (created by the merger of the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra). In September 2021, the SWR announced a 3-year extension to Currentzis' contract. In September 2022, the SWR announced that Currentzis was to stand down as chief conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester at the close of the 2024–2025 season. The contract was not renewed upon his own request, and not for political reasons "as some had speculated or hoped".

In February 2024 Wiener Festwochen cancelled a performance by Currentzis due to concerns raised by Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who was also scheduled to perform at the festival, around Currentzis's links to Russia – namely VTB Bank sponsoring a Currentzis-led Russian ensemble, and the Russian citizenship awarded to Currentzis by Vladimir Putin.

Critical reception

Currentzis has the image of a punk "messiah and rebel," wearing lace-up boots, skinny jeans and a T-shirt on stage. He has been labeled eccentric for conducting from within the orchestra, leaving his stand. However, as of 2022 he has chosen to take on more traditional dress, appearing in black suits with white cuffed shirts, elegant evening shoes and a neat haircut.

Currentzis never distinguished himself as a Putin sympathizer, even before the Ukrainian War, unlike his colleague Valeri Gergiev, and he is much less involved in state structures than Gergiev. Nevertheless, on 2 January 2024, he played the song “Moscow Evenings” at the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia during one of Russia's largest missile attacks on Ukraine.

Awards

Currentzis has won the Russian national theatre award Golden Mask nine times:

• 2007: Special Awards of the Musical Theatre Jury for Prokofiev's Cinderella.
• 2008: Special Award of the Musical Theatre Jury For Impressive Achievements in Musical Authenticity in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
• 2011: Best Conductor of an opera for Berg's Wozzeck at the Bolshoi Theater.
• 2013: Best Conductor of an opera for Mozart's Così fan tutte
• 2013: Best Conductor of a ballet for Prokofiev's Chout
• 2015: Best Conductor of an opera for Purcell's The Indian Queen
• 2017: Best Conductor of an opera for Verdi's La Traviata
• 2018: Best Conductor of a ballet for Prokofiev's Cinderella
• 2018: Special Awards of the Musical Theatre Jury for Cantos, Aleksey Syumak's opera

Productions

• 2004/05 – Verdi's Aida directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov.
• 2005/06 – Concert performance and CD record of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.
• 2006/07 – Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro directed by Tatjana Gürbaca.
• 2006/07 – Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk directed by Henrich Baranovsky.
• 2007 – Prokofiev's Cinderella.
• 2008/09 – Verdi's Macbeth directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov in Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre and Opéra Bastille.
• 2009/10 – Berg's Wozzeck directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov in Bolshoi Theatre.
• 2009/10 – Mozart's Don Giovanni directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov in Bolshoi Theatre and Aix-en-Provence Festival.
• 2010 – Mieczysław Weinberg's The Passenger at the Bregenzer Festspiele directed by David Pountney.
• 2010 – Alexey Syumak's The Requiem in the Moscow Art Theatre.
• 2011 – Mozart's Così fan tutte in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
• 2012 – Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Stravinsky's Persephone in the Teatro Real, Madrid.
• 2012 – Verdi's Macbeth in the Bavarian State Opera, Munich.
• 2012 – Prokofiev's Chout.
• 2013 – Purcell's The Indian Queen in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre with coproduction of Teatro Real and English National Opera.
• 2014 – Dmitry Kurlyandsky's Nosferatu in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
• 2014 – Mozart's Don Giovanni in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
• 2015 – Shostakovich's Orango at Diaghilev Festival.
• 2016 – Verdi's La Traviata directed by Robert Wilson in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
• 2017 – Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at Salzburg Festival
• 2018 – Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher at Diaghilev Festival.
• 2018 – Prokofiev's Cinderella in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
• 2018 – Alexey Symak's Cantos in the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Discography

Recordings are with Sony Classical unless otherwise noted:

• Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (Alpha, 2008)
• Mozart: Requiem (Alpha, 2011)
• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14 (Alpha, 2011)
• Shostakovich: Piano Concertos; Sonata for Violin and Piano (Harmonia Mundi, 2012)
• Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, 2014
• Rameau: The Sound of Light, 2014
• Mozart: Così fan tutte, 2014
• Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps, 2015
• Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Stravinsky: Les Noces, 2016
• Mozart: Don Giovanni, 2016
• Artyomov: Symphony Gentle Emanation (Divine Art, 2016)
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, 2017
• Mahler: Symphony No. 6, 2018
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, 2020
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, 2021

Filmography

• Iolanta/Perséphone (Teatro Real, 2012)
• Purcell: The Indian Queen (Sony Classical, 2015)
• Dau: Lev Landau (Ilya Khrzhanovsky, 2019)

See also

• Valeri Gergiev, Russian conductor
• Anna Netrebko, Russian opera singer

External links

• Official website
• Teodor Currentzis Sony Classical
• "The Magnet" Archived 30 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, by Hartmut Welscher, VAN Magazine, 1 June 2017.