Mikhel Kütson

Mihkel Kütson was born in 1971 in Tallinn, Estonia. He first studied at the Estonian Academy of Music in his hometown and then was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the conducting class of Prof. Klauspeter Seibel at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. Masterclasses with Kurt Sanderling, Fabio Luisi and Kurt Masur shaped his career. At the age of 27 he was appointed General Music Director of the notorious Vanemuine Theatre and the Vanemuise Sümfooniaorkester in Tartu, Estonia. From 2001 to 2006 he was closely involved with the Hannover State Opera, first as guest conductor and since 2002 as principal conductor. There he had the opportunity to further expand his broad repertoire. In 2002 Mihkel Kütson was admitted into the German Music Council's "Conducting Forum" programme, and in October 2006 he was the first conductor to receive the German Conducting Award. From 2007 to 2012 he was General Music Director of the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, and the Theatre Krefeld and Mönchengladbach since the 2012/13 season. In March 2020 his contract was extended until the end of the 2026/2027 season. This very intense and long collaboration was awarded 2022 with prestigious German OPUS Klassik Award in the category „Best symphonic recording“ for Symphony No. 7 by Alexander Glazunov. Mihkel Kütson is guest conductor of the Dresden Opera, Berlin Komische Oper, Estonian National Opera and German Rhine Opera Düsseldorf, as well as numerous orchestras, including the Dresden Symphony Orchestra, the German Radio Orchestra and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Radio Symphony Orchestra and the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Nuremberg and Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestras, the Austrian Tonkünstlerorchester, the National Symphony Orchestra in Ireland, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra. Mihkel Kütson's operatic and symphonic repertoire is very rich and varied, with more than 60 musical and stage works. Among the opera titles in the 2022/2023 season are Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Bellini's La Sonnambula, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Dvorak's Rusalka, to name a few.