Jan Latham-Koenig
Internationally renowned conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire that has led him to regularly work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mozarteum Salzburg, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and Japan Philharmonic. As of 2023 he is the Music Director at Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires and Artistic Director of the Festival Puccini at Torre del Lago.
Most recently, he debuted at Atlanta Opera with Mozart’s Don Giovanni and at Festival della Valle d’Itria, Italy, conducting a new production of Prokofiev’s The Gambler, directed by Sir David Pountney. He conducted Carmen with Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation and collaborated with world-leading architect Santiago Calatrava’s first design for opera on a new production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites in Turin. He also directed the Arena di Verona Orchestra and Chorus for Zefferelli’s last unrealized production of Verdi, Rigoletto, at the Royal Opera House Oman, and was a guest conductor at Cape Town Philharmonic and Opera for Bizet’s Pearl Fishers and Britten’s Turn of the Screw. Last year he toured with the Zagreb Philharmonic to present Dora Pejačević, Sibelius, and Mahler.
Latham-Koenig studied at the Royal College of Music in London and began his career as a concert conductor with the BBC. He won the Gulbenkian Fellowship and became a permanent guest conductor at the Vienna State Opera. Latham-Koenig’s immensely knowledgeable approach and characteristic musical inquisitiveness have led him to hold music director positions at Flanders Symphony Orchestra in Bruges; Filarmonica del Teatro Regio, Turin; Teatro Massimo di Palermo; Novaya Opera, Moscow; Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, Mexico City; Orchestra of Porto; Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile; Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Opéra National du Rhin. He has formed several orchestras, including the Orchestra of Porto, the Young Janáček Philharmonic, and the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra.
With over fifty recordings both in studio and live for record labels such as Decca and Sony, that range from musical theatre works of Kurt Weill to rare scores by Donizetti, Leoncavallo and Ibert, Latham-Koenig wields one of the most prestigious batons in the UK. His latest releases include Croatian Composers with the Zagreb Philharmonic and his second collaborative disc of Poulenc’s works, with Mark Bebbington and the Royal Philharmonic. Latham-Koenig has received praise for his “warmly expressive” (Gramophone) and “inspired direction” (The Times).
In 2020 he was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to music.