Michael Engelbrecht

The Dutch conductor Michael Engelbrecht was first prize winner of the ‘Blue Danube/Béla Bartók International Opera Conducting Competition’ held in June 2021 in Stara Zagora. Mr. Engelbrecht will debut with several opera houses and orchestras during the 2022/2023
season, besides the Sofia Philharmonic among others with the State Opera Kosice in Slovakia. After his debut in January 2022 at the State Opera Stara Zagora, he will return there this season. Mr. Engelbrecht was also first prize winner of the Budapest International Masterclass &
Competition for Orchestral Conducting, where the musicians of the MÁV Budapest Symphony Orchestra acted as a jury. Currently, he is chief conductor of Philharmonie Gelre in Arnhem, the Netherlands. As a guest conductor he conducted, among others, the State Opera Stara Zagora, the MÁV Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Eindhoven Symphony Orchestra, Neos Brass Amsterdam and the Dutch National Student Orchestra during their Croatia tour. He also conducted concerts of the Philips Symphonic Wind Orchestra during their China tour in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai. Mr. Engelbrecht attended conducting masterclasses and lessons with: Jan Cober, Ivan Meylemans, Marien van Staalen, Ilona Meskó and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Mr. Engelbrecht began his professional musical career at age 17 – and youngest musician ever to be employed permanently by a professional orchestra in the Netherlands – as a tenortuba player in the Royal Dutch Military Band in The Hague. He won first prize at the prestigious ‘Concours Mondial de Tuba et Euphonium’ in Guebwiller, France. He graduated with distinction from his euphonium and conducting studies at the Tilburg and Maastricht conservatory. Mr. Engelbrecht performed, among others, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ballet Orchestra Amsterdam, The Hague Philharmonic (Residentie Orkest) and the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. He collaborated with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ingo Metzmacher, Marc Albrecht and Sir George Benjamin. He also performed as a soloist with orchestras and as a chamber musician. For some years now, Michael Engelbrecht has fully concentrated on his conducting career.