Cornelius Meister, born in Hannover in 1980, was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. Each season he directs the orchestra in concert series in Vienna’s prestigious Musikverein and Konzerthaus and on tour throughout Europe and Japan.

Last season, Cornelius Meister completed an impressive seven years as Music Director of the City of Heidelberg.

Mr Meister was guest conductor with such orchestras as Het Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Manchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester Stockholm, Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (DSO) Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie, Radio-Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Munich.

At the age of 21, he gave his debut at the Hamburg Opera, followed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the San Francisco  Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Theater an der Wien, Royal Opera House Copenhagen and Semperoper Dresden.

Upcoming performances include his debuts at the Opera House in Zurich (“Salome”), the Vienna State Opera (“Die Zauberflöte”) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He furthermore completes the “Ring” cycle at the Latvian National Opera Riga and returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as well as the DSO Berlin.

Cornelius Meister studied piano and conducting at the Hannover University with Konrad Meister, Martin Brauß and Eiji Oue and at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Dennis Russell Davies and Karl Kamper. As a pianist, he has given concerts in Europe and the USA.