Constantin Trinks

Constantin Trinks was born on April 9, 1975 in Karlsruhe, Germany.

His first musical experience was playing the piano and French horn. He was also involved in various ensembles and choirs from an early age. In 1994 he began studying conducting at the State Academy of Music in Karlsruhe with Prof. Wolf-Dieter Hauschild and piano with Prof. Günter Reinhold. He graduated in 2000 with excellent results.

During his studies, Mr. Trinks worked in 1996 as an accompanist for "Don Giovanni" at the Alto Theater in Essen and for the "Kastel" Festival in Zwingenberg in 1997. From 1997 to 2000 He was engaged at the Baden State Theatre in Karlsruhe as a guest accompanist and personal assistant to Maestro Kazushi Ono, working on numerous opera productions. There, in 1997, he led the choir rehearsals for Hans Werner Henze's "The Young Lord". An enthusiastic tenor himself, Mr. Trinks sang in the Stuttgart Chamber Choir conducted by Frieder Bernius from 1999 to 2001.

At the Schwetzingen Festival in 1999, he assisted Thomas Hengelbrock, and at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe between 1998 and 2002, Andreas Spering. Mr. Trinks was also an intern during the production of Christian Thielemann's "Tannhäuser" at the Bayreuth Festival in 2002. He was a scholarship holder of the “Akademie Musiktheater Hohne” from 2003 to 2005.

Since 2000 he has been permanently engaged as a vocal teacher and conductor at the Baden State Theatre, Karlsruhe. He has conducted “The Marriage of Figaro”, “The Bat”, “The Puritans”, “Viva la Mama”, “The Happy Deception”, “The Tinker Bell” and “Evita”.

Mr. Trinks was appointed second conductor at the Saarbrücken State Opera in 2002 and has significantly expanded his repertoire: “The Flying Dutchman”, “Arabella”, “The Cunning Little Vixen”, “The Troubadour”, “The Masked Ball”, “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “The Abduction from the Palace”, “The Tales of Hoffmann”, “The Bartered Bride”, “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, “Orpheus in Hell” and “Les Misérables”.

During this period he also conducted many ballet performances, initiated and conducted youth concerts, as well as special concerts dedicated to the "Lamentation" from Mendelssohn's Second Symphony in 2002 and to Schumann's "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" in 2004.

In his third season at the Saarbrücken State Opera, Mr. Trinks conducted four new productions, one of which was the widely acclaimed premiere of Luigi Nono's opera "Intolerance 1960" in its anniversary year 2004. In 2005 he was appointed first "Kapellmeister" and deputy music director. New productions of "Don Carlos", "La Bohème" and "Don Giovanni", as well as several performances of "Elektra".

As acting music director at the Saarbrücken State Opera from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Trinks conducted the premieres of "Rhine Gold", "Lohengrin", "Salome", "The Magic Flute", "Carmen", "La Traviata", "Peasant's Honor", "The Executioners", as well as "Kullervo" by the Finnish composer Aulis Salinen. The European premiere of the opera "The First Emperor" by the Chinese composer Tan Dun was highly acclaimed. He also conducted a youth dance project based on "The Firebird" in collaboration with choreographer Royston Maldum.

Symphonic concerts with the Saarbrücken State Orchestra include works such as Anton Bruckner's Third and Seventh Symphonies, Johannes Brahms's "German Requiem", Béla Bartók's "Orchestra Concerto", Richard Strauss' "Til Eulenspiegel" and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony.

In October 2008 Mr. Trinks made his debut at the Darmstadt State Theatre with the premiere of "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg". He has been the principal music director there since the 2009/2010 season.

First productions of "Aida" "The Rosenkavalier", revivals of "Parsifal" and "Hansel and Gretel". And the world premiere of Carl Orff's early work "Gisele - The Sacrifice" in tandem with the premiere of his later work "The Comedy of the End of Time", also released on DVD. Concerts including Mahler's Fifth Symphony, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.

Artistic collaborations with many other orchestras. Here is a brief overview...

In 2004, "That's How Everyone Does It" at the Klagenfurt State Theatre. Gala concert "Verdi" at the Eberbach Monastery with the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra. The successful German debut of the KBS Seoul Symphony Orchestra at an opera gala concert in Wiesbaden. In 2006, Don Giovanni at the Klagenfurt State Theater, Rigoletto at the Mannheim National Theater and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Nuremberg State Theater.

Concerts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Reutlingen Württemberg Philharmonic, the Rostock North German Philharmonic, the Innsbruck Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra, the Palatinate Theater Kaiserslautern Orchestra, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, the German Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Vogtland Philharmonic and the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra in Essen.

In the fall of 2007 is the revival of "Don Giovanni" staged by Peter Konwiczny at the Berlin Komische Oper, as well as the opening concert of the International Anton Rubinstein Festival 2007 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

Japanese debut in December 2008 at the New National Theatre Tokyo – a new production of Don Giovanni with an international cast. Returned there for La Bohème in 2012 and Tannhäuser in 2013. Previously conducted Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2010.

Successful debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in March 2010 with Der Rosenkavalier. Further performances in late summer 2010. In the 2011/2012 season, Capriccio by Richard Strauss and Hansel and Gretel – plus a new production of Schwanda the Piper by Jaromir Weinberger.

Paris Opéra National de Paris debut in late 2010 with a revival of Der Barge.

Highly acclaimed debut at the Munich Bavarian State Opera during the 2011 Opera Festival with Der Rosenkavalier. Return to Munich with a series of performances of the same opera in 2011/2012.