Anja Bihlmaier

Anja Bihlmaier’s strong musical instinct, abundant charisma and natural leadership have propelled her to the forefront of her generation of conductors both on the symphonic and operatic stages.  She enters her second season as Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague alongside her position as Principal Guest Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Bihlmaier begins the 22/23 season with the first of several appearances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Residentie Orkest.  In addition to regular concerts in Amsterdam and The Hague, she brings the orchestra to the Kölner Philharmonie ahead of their German tour next season.  As a guest she returns to conduct the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig in Beethoven Symphony No 9, the BBC Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Barcelona Symphony and Orquestra y Coro Nacional de España and makes first appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Salzburg Camerata.

With diverse repertoire ranging from Haydn through to Mahler, Bruckner and Strauss alongside Sibelius, Bartók, Dvořák, Shostakovich, Debussy, Britten, Andrea Tarrodi and Wim Henderickx, Anja Bihlmaier has recently conducted the SWR Symphonieorchester, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras.

A passionate advocate of opera, Bihlmaier amassed 15 years of experience from positions at Staatsoper Hannover, Theater Chemnitz and Staatstheater Kassel with productions including Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin, Bizet Carmen, Massenet Werther, Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro and Dvořák Rusalka.  In February 2023 she conducts Wagner Der Fliegende Holländer in Tampere and future productions are scheduled with Norwegian National Opera and Glyndebourne.  More recently she has conducted Gounod Faust with Trondheim Opera, Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Malmö Opera and several productions at Volksoper Wien including Henry Mason’s highly acclaimed new production of Die Zauberflöte (2020-21). 

Following studies at the Freiburg Conservatory of Music, Anja Bihlmaier won a scholarship to study with Dennis Russell Davies and Jorge Rotter at the Salzburg Mozarteum.  She won further scholarships from the Brahms Foundation and was admitted onto the Deutsche Dirigentenforum.  She now makes her home in The Hague where she can indulge her love of nature, surfing and cycling.