Die Neue Züricher Zeitung calls him “a shining star of the new German conductor generation.” A truly modern and multi-faceted conductor, Christian Schumann is rapidly establishing a reputation not only as an opera and symphonic conductor, but as a leading international force in the contemporary and film conducting world.
Opening the 2017/18 season, Christian Schumann conducts two James Bond film-in-concert performances at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg followed by symphonic and film concerts in the Netherlands including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Later in the season, he will conduct Harry Potter shows in Frankfurt and Munich, before embarking on an all-German tour featuring film-in-concert productions of Star Wars.
Schumann 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 a number of important debuts including London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. Since then, he has worked with a number of important orchestras including the Staatskapelle Dresden, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Münchner Symphoniker, Brussels Philharmonic, Trondheim Symfoniorkester and Staatskapelle Weimar as well as such new music groups as Ensemble Intercontemporain and Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik. Last season he debuted with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Turku Philharmonic, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, while the 2017/18 season sees his debuts with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Copenhagen Philharmonic and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras. Among the opera highlights is a brand-new production of Peter Eötvös’ iconic opera Three Sister at Teatro Colón.
Considering Peter Eötvös as one of his mentors, Christian Schumann has appeared at major opera houses such as Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatr Wielki in Warsaw conducting his operas Die Tragödie des Teufels and Lady Sarashina respectively. At Grand Theatre Avignon he conducted a double-bill featuring Eötvös’ Senza Sangue and Bartók’s Bluebeard´s Castle. Schumann has also enjoyed a long-term relationship with the Theater St. Gallen where he was Kapellmeister from 2006-2009. During his tenure he led performances of Bizet’s Carmen and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, while most recently he returned to the theatre for a chamber opera Jakob von Gunten by Benjamin Schweitzer.
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). In 2016/17 Christian Schummann also appeared at FIMUCITÉ Festival with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, as well as at Festival Musica in Strasbourg and MANCA Festival in Nice to perform J’accuse by Philippe Schoeller with the SWR Sinfonieorchester and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice respectively.
Christian Schumann has conducted a number of recordings for film and video gaming including the original score by Pascal Schumacher for L’enigme with WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and Michael Obst’s score of Nosferatu (1921). In autumn 2016 Schumann conducted the original score of Battlefield 1 (the latest in the Battlefield video game series) by Johan Söderqvist and Bence Pajor (Audio Director) with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Schumann received a Master of Arts Degree at the Franz Liszt University Weimar majoring conducting and composition (2007). His professors were Nicolás Pasquet and Michael Obst.