Johannes Witt

Biography

Johannes Witt is a distinguished conductor known for his appearances at prestigious opera houses, including the Wiener Staatsoper, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Finnish National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, Czech National Opera, and Dutch National Opera and Ballet. In the current season, Johannes returns to the Wiener Staatsoper and the Czech National Opera. He will also debut with the WDR Funkhausorchester and conduct several premieres at Oper Wuppertal.

Since the 2021/22 season, Johannes has held a position as conductor at Oper Wuppertal, where he led the German premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's Il canto s'attrista, perché? and directed productions of La Traviata, Werther, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Erwartung, Rigoletto, Die Lustige Witwe, among others. Previously, he served as a conductor at the Aalto Theater in Essen, conducting a versatile repertoire spanning Die Zauberflöte, Die Csárdásfürstin, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Norma, Das Land des Lächelns, and The Bartered Bride. His engagements extended to ballet works such as Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Onegin, Swan Lake, and Don Quichote. In Essen, his premieres of Onegin, Swan Lake, and Eine Nacht in Venedig garnered critical acclaim, with audiences recognizing his talent in leading the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra.

His recent projects include the Dutch premiere of Angel's Bone by Du Yun at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam, and a return to Wiener Staatsoper to conduct La Fille mal Gardée. In 2021, he conducted The Taming of the Shrew at Staatstheater Stuttgart and Aalto Theater, along with the revival of Dietrich Hilsdorf’s acclaimed Cain, overo il primo omicidio in Essen.

Johannes has guest-conducted for numerous venues, including Nationaltheater Mannheim (Don Giovanni), Oper Bonn (Madama Butterfly), Staatstheater Kassel (Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor), and Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern (German premiere of Heart Sutra by Christian Jost and The Raven by Toshio Hosakawa). His premiere of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet at Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville, in 2016 was critically praised.

Johannes’s concert repertoire spans early baroque to contemporary works, collaborating with ensembles such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Essener Philharmoniker, Bremer Philharmoniker, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, and Folkwang Kammerorchester.

Johannes began his career as a coach at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. In 2012, he joined the Aalto Theater Essen, working closely with Stefan Soltész on productions such as Pelléas et Mélisande, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Parsifal, and assisting conductors including Tomáš Netopil, Friedrich Haider, and Will Humburg. He studied conducting at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln under Professor Michael Luig and at the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg with Leonid Korchmar.

Originally trained as a percussionist, Johannes specialized in marimba performance and was a timpanist in the youth orchestras of Toronto and Cologne. Since 2020, he has served as the Artistic Director of the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg, inspiring young musicians with his passion for orchestral music.