Thomas Hengelbrock is an exceptional talent in many respects: he delights international audiences in his joint roles as violinist, conductor, scholar and music educator. His deep engagement with musical scores and with the meaning and context of compositions forms the basis of his work — which spans multiple eras and genres — and underpins his international career. He frequently brings to light pieces that have been forgotten or thought lost, while simultaneously offering refreshing new takes on standard repertory.
For more than thirty years he has enjoyed international acclaim as the founder and artistic director of his Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra. They perform regularly at renowned concert venues and opera houses, including the Paris Opéra, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and the Palau de la Música Catalana, and at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Baden-Baden and Salzburg. Since 2020 they have held a residency at the Château de Fontainebleau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Thomas Hengelbrock has also conducted prestigious orchestras such as the Vienna and Munich Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France. In 2017 he and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra inaugurated the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Since September 2024 he has been music director of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris.
In the 2025/26 season his appearances have included performances with Christian Tetzlaff and the Maîtrise de Radio France, Haydn’s The Creation with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris at the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris, and Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle at the Elbphilharmonie and Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus with the Balthasar Neumann Choir.
He is dedicated not only to historically informed performance practice but also to contemporary music, and has worked with composers including Jörg Widmann, Simon Wills, Lotta Wennäkoski, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Qigang Chen. He has conducted world premieres including Wolfgang Rihm’s Reminiszenz (2017) and Jan Müller-Wieland’s oratorio Maria (2018).
He has also worked as a director on productions including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and, together with the choreographer Pina Bausch, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. In addition, he has collaborated with actors including Klaus Maria Brandauer, Johanna Wokalek and Graham Valentine on his own arrangements of works such as Grieg’s Peer Gynt and Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust.
Thomas Hengelbrock passes on his knowledge through the Balthasar Neumann Academy (which he founded), the Cuban-European Youth Academy and a variety of school and social projects. He was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Prize in 2016 in recognition of his achievements.
