Dirk Kaftan was appointed the General Music Director of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and Bonn Opera House in the summer of 2017. In addition to numerous concerts during the 2022/2023 season, he will also be conducting Kurt Weill's opera “Mahagonny” and Franz Schreker's rarely performed opera “Der singende Teufel” (The Singing Devil). His concerts will see him continue to conduct the successful concert series that have brought him together with artists such as Matthias Brandt and Rafik Schami, and we can also look forward to future projects with guests such as Julia Fischer, Sunnyi Melles, Auma Obama, Selina Ott, Daniel Müller Schott, Alexandre Tharaud and Wladimir Kaminer.
Dirk Kaftan’s repertoire is a broad one and ranges from rapturously received performances of Beethoven’s symphonies to Nono’s “Intolleranza 1960” and “The Merry Widow”, as well as various intercultural projects.
He was the initiator and driving force behind a whole string of projects commemorating the city’s most famous son during the Beethoven Anniversary Year, such as the “Beethoven Lounges”, “Hofkapelle” or “Beethoven Moves!”. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed new concert formats, such as “Beethoven Pure”, which allowed Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies to be performed in chamber music formations.
At the beginning of 2021, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under Dirk Kaftan was appointed as a “United Nations Climate Change Goodwill Ambassador” by the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). During the summer of the same year, Dirk Kaftan and his Beethoven Orchestra Bonn were awarded the European Culture Prize.
His credos of “approaching people” and “joining forces” are reflected in the work of the Bonn General Music Director, be it in his interactions with musicians or the audience. In the eyes of Dirk Kaftan, music is an essential part of life; it is an invitation to think and get involved.