Conductor Christoph Campestrini was born in Linz, Austria and received his musical education in the United States. He studied in New York City at The Juilliard School while simultaneously majoring in philosophy and languages at Columbia University. In addition to German and English, he speaks Italian, French, Russian and Spanish.
Following his studies at Juilliard and Columbia, he was the only European chosen to be admitted to the founding class of the prestigious Yale University Affiliate Artists Conducting Program. While at Yale, he worked with prominent conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Kurt Sanderling.
After his return to Europe, he started an active international career, conducting more than 80 symphony orchestras on all five continents. Among them are the London Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Cologne Radio Symphony, Moscow Radio Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, Orchestre Lamoureux - Paris, Philharmonia Hungarica, Xalapa Symphony - Mexico, and the Israel Sinfonietta, among others.
Campestrini has served as principal conductor at the prestigious Essen Aalto Musiktheater and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he conducted more than 100 performances of 15 different operas. Other opera credits include the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Zagreb National Opera and the Hong Kong Opera Academy.
Campestrini is frequently in North America, where he has been working repeatedly with such orchestras as the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Houston Symphony and Colorado Symphony.
The conductor’s 2008/09 season opens with his debut at Opera Lyra leading the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Le nozze di Figaro. He is also re-engaged for apperances with the Toledo and Oregon Symphonies, the latter in a subscription series.
2007/08 was perhaps one of Campestrini’s most important seasons yet. Major subscription debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony, the Texas Music Festival and the Seoul Philharmonic figured alongside re-engagements with the Colorado Symphony and Santa Barbara Symphony. During the 2006/07 season, he returned to the Houston Symphony and the symphony orchestras of Toledo, Omaha, Monterey and Honolulu. His U.S. opera debut took place in the Spring of 2006 at the Austin Lyric Opera in a new production of Don Giovanni.
In Europe, he maintains a permanent relationship with the Czech State Philharmonic Bruno, which he conducts in several programs each season as well as on tour. In addition, he works with orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg, Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Slovak Philharmonic.
In Asia, Campestrini has undertaken several tours with the Hong Kong Academy to China, Thailand and Vietnam – in addition to serving with the orchestra in residence at the Carinthian Summer Festival. In Korea, his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2005 resulted in an immediate invitation for return performances.
Has worked with soloists such as Gidon Kremer, Julian Rachlin, Rudolf Buchbinder, Sharon Kam, Julia Fischer and Emmanuel Pahud.
