Karl-Heinz Steffens (born 28 November 1961) is a German

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

ist and conductor. For the first part of his musical career, Steffens was a solo clarinetist, and also served as principal clarinet with the

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (german: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestr ...

and the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

. From 2009 to 2018, Steffens was music director of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Ludwigshafen. During his tenure, the orchestra received such honours as the

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

award for Best Orchestra in 2015 for their recording of works by

Bernd Alois Zimmermann Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...

. Steffens was music director of the

Norwegian National Opera and Ballet The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

from 2016 to 2018. In 2017, Steffens announced his intention to stand down early from the Den Norske Opera and Ballet post, owing to conflicts with then-incoming artistic director Annilese Miskimmon. He concluded his tenure with Den Norske Opera and Ballet in 2018. In February 2019, the Prague State Opera announced the appointment of Steffens as its next music director, effective with the 2019–2020 season. In October 2019, the

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Norrköpings Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish professional symphony orchestra. It is based at the concert hall De Geerhallen, in the center of Norrköping. History The orchestra was founded in 1912, a ...

announced the appointment of Steffens as its next principal conductor and artistic advisor, effective with the 2020–2021 season.

References

External links

Official website of Karl-Heinz Steffens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steffens, Karl-Heinz 1961 births German clarinetists German male conductors (music) Living people 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century clarinetists 21st-century German male musicians Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin