Florian Ziemen has established himself as a conductor with persuasive musical vigour and a passionate interest in historical performance practice (an approach to the performance of classical music developed during the 20th century), regularly earning the highest praise from critics and audiences alike. His wide repertoire includes the symphonic field, as well as ballet and opera. One particular point of interest for him is the musical and stylistic revelation of Austrian and German operetta, which has subsequently led to several spectacularly received projects.
Since 2017, he has been the General Music Director for Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim, Germany, where the reopening of the opera house and its orchestra have been both musically and conceptually acclaimed.
As a guest conductor he has led productions at opera houses like Staatsoper Stuttgart, Komische Oper Berlin, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Theater Wuppertal and many others. At Les Grands Ballets Canadiens he has conducted a number of productions (Leonce and Lena by Christian Spuck, The Nutcracker by Fernand Nault, The Sleeping Beauty by Mats Ek, Transfigured Night by Stijn Celis) and curated the musical score of Peter Quanz’ Rodin/Claudel and La Dame aux camélias.
Florian Ziemen studied at the Music University of his hometown Munich and at The Royal Academy of Music in London, England. He worked as an assistant to the Chorus Master at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and also led numerous productions at the Bavarian Theater Academy. He was particularly influenced by encounters with Sir Colin Davis, Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Roger Norrington, and his continued relationship with Reinhard Goebel.
Florian Ziemen’s Kapellmeister career began with the post of Répetiteur at the prestigious Aalto Opera House in Essen under Maestro Stefan Soltesz. He was then appointed as Resident Conductor, thereby enabling him to conduct over a hundred performances and gain a wide repertoire of ballet and operatic literature. In 2010, he became Resident Kapellmeister at the Bremen Opera an in 2012, he followed Michael Hofstetter to Stadttheater Gießen as his Deputy and Principal Kapellmeister, where he held a decisive role in the new widely praised musical concept for the opera house.
Orchestras conducted by Florian Ziemen include the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR-Funkhaus Orchestra of Cologne, Badische Staatskapelle, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Bergisches Symphoniker, Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Québec, Sinfonieorchester Biel Solothum, Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
