Richard Schwennicke

Richard Schwennicke studied piano, conducting and chamber music in Hannover with Gerrit Zitterbart, Martin Brauß and Jan Philip Schulze. In addition, he participated in masterclasses with Joana Mallwitz and Donald and Vivien Weilerstein, and received further instruction from Nils Mönkemeyer, Andreas Felber and Joachim Heintz. He has recorded variously, and premiered works by composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Lisa Streich, Feliz Macahis or Bára Gísladóttir.
His professional career started at the opera houses of Kassel and Hannover; in 2023 he became the head of the music department and Kapellmeister in Darmstadt. There he conducted performances of Pnima (Chaya Czernowin) and Contes d’Hoffmann, in Hannover some of his repertoire included Turning Turandot (Jacopo Salvatori) and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Benjamin Britten). Beyond his career as a conductor, Richard has collaborated with the Ensemble “Stehgreif” at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin where his first opera, Wüstinnen (dir. Sommer Ulrickson), was performed in 2023.
For the season 24/25, Richard joined Vienna State Opera as a member of the music department. Furthermore, he had his conducting debut with Iceland Symphony Orchestra where he will return in the 25/26 season.

upcoming performances