Karsten Januschke

Karsten Januschke (born 4 March 1980) is a German conductor in opera and concert who made an international career. He worked at the Oper Frankfurt from 2008 to 2015 and then turned to freelance work. He focused on Mozart operas, but has also conducted contemporary works such as the German premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Lost Highway.

Karsten Januschke
Born	Karsten Januschke (1980-03-04) 4 March 1980 (age 44) Bad Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany
Education	Konservatorium Wien
Occupation	Conductor
Organizations	Oper Frankfurt

Life and career

Januschke was born in Bad Segeberg on 4 March 1980. He studied in Vienna: first piano and musicology, then conducting with Georg Mark at the Konservatorium Wien, completing with distinction. During his studies he worked as répétiteur at the Vienna State Opera from 2004, where he conducted a version for children after Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. He also assisted regularly at the Theater an der Wien and the Bayreuth Festival, working with Christian Thielemann and Kirill Petrenko.^[1]

He became solo répétiteur at the Oper Frankfurt in 2008, and later Kapellmeister, learning a broad repertoire.^[2] This included Pimpinone in 2010, Lior Navok's Die kleine Meerjungfrau, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte and Idomeneo, Stravinsky's Mavra, Verdi's La traviata and Don Carlos, and Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss.^[3] He also led performances of Puccini's La bohème, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and Aribert Reimann's Die Gespenstersonate.^[1]

From 2015, Januschka worked freelance but still based in Frankfurt.^[4] In the 2017/18 season he conducted performances of Arnulf Herrmanns Der Mieter that had its world premiere in Frankfurt; he had also prepared the Philharmonia Chor Wien, together with Walter Zeh.^[5] In the 2018/19 season, he conducted performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle that Barrie Kosky had staged in 2010, with Cecelia Hall as Dido, Andreas Bauer as Bluebeard and Claudia Mahnke as Judith.^[6] He also conducted Mozart's Don Giovanni at the New National Theatre Tokyo,^[1] the German premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Lost Highway^[3] and Handel's Tamerlano at the Oper Frankfurt, Beethoven's Fidelio at the Vorarlberger Landestheater, and Die Zauberflöte at the Oper im Steinbruch St. Margarethen [de] festival.^[1][2]

In 2024, he conducted the first production in Frankfurt of Offenbach's Die Banditen, directed by Katharina Thoma, with a small orchestra and 22 soloists, 11 of whom were tenors.^[4][7] A reviewer from Die Deutsche Bühne noted:

Conductor Karsten Januschke does everything right and keeps a low profile. With the rather small orchestra in excellent form, he plays a lean, dry, delicate Offenbach, freed from false ideas of sound. Rhythm and dance take centre stage. Splashes of colour are well-dosed and discreet, while the marches and dances release great energy.^[8]

In concerts, he conducted the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, the Münchener Kammerorchester, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle in Schwerin, the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern, among others.^[1][2][3]

References

1. "Karsten Januschke". National Theatre. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
2. "Karsten Januschke" (in German). Staatstheater Darmstadt. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
3. "Karsten Januschke". Oper Frankfurt. 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
4. Holze, Guido (28 January 2024). "Die größeren Gauner sitzen an den Adelshöfen". Faz.net (in German). FAZ. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
5. Bomba, Andreas (14 November 2017). "Suggestiv, bedrückend, intensiv: Arnulf Herrmanns Oper "Der Mieter"". Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). Retrieved 22 April 2021.
6. Gerhart, Matthias (3 November 2018). "Spritziger Barock trifft auf dunkle Moderne". Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2024.
7. Bunsmann, Meinolf (January 2024). "Offenbach in Frankfurt - elf diebische Tenöre und Klamauk" (in German). hr2. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
8. Zegowitz, Bernd (29 January 2024). "Es passt zu gut ... / Jacques Offenbach: Die Banditen". Die Deutsche Bühne (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Karsten Januschke discography at Discogs
• Karsten Januschke Operabase
• Der Dirigent Karsten Januschke: Laut spielen kann jeder, leise leider nicht… (interview, in German) Online Merker 8 August 2016
• Feyerbacher, Renate: Der Dirigent Karsten Januschke – ein junges Talent der Dirigentengeneration (interview, in German) feuilletonfrankfurt.de 25 January 2024