Munich-born Gregor A. Mayrhofer is becoming equally recognised as a conductor and
composer. He uses both platforms to explore new ways of creating art. Many of his projects
combine programs from different epochs, often including the works of contemporary
composers.
Gregor will start the 25/26 season continuing his position as the musical director of the
HIDALGO Festival Munich, with a series of creative concerts combining classical and modern
repertoire, intertwined with theatrical elements. Further highlights this season include his
debuts with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and his London debut
at the Barbican Centre with Britten Sinfonia, and a commission for the Netherlands Bach
Society's tour of Holland.
Highlights last season include a debut appearance with Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Philharmony Zuidnederland and Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he conducted
the premiere of his commission for the Berlin Philharmonic and Harald Lesch, and returns to
SWR Symphony Orchestra, Braunschweig State Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra,
Musikkollegium Winterthur, Klangspuren Festival, and Ensemble Musikfabrik. As part of the
Heidelberger Frühling festival, he conducted Ensemble Resonanz, while "Veronika Eberle and
friends" performed his composition "Lageder Octet." Gregor’s "Recycling Concerto" with Vivi
Vassileva as soloist was performed nineteen times last season, including concerts the SWR
Symphony Orchestra, Bodenseephilharmonie, Magdeburg Philharmonic, Robert Schumann
Philharmonie Chemnitz, Ensemble Reflektor (Elbphilharmonie), and Sinfonietta Riga.
In recent years, Mayrhofer has made debut appearances with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra,
the Britten Sinfonia at the Aldeburgh Festival, musicAeterna at Zaryadye Hall in Moscow, and at
the Salzburg Festival, as well as performing at the Klangspuren Festival with both the Tiroler
Sinfonieorchester and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.
He has conducted renowned ensembles such as Staatskapelle Berlin (premiere of his oratorio
"Wir sind Erde" at the Berlin Philharmonic), Bavarian State Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony,
Württemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen, Slovenian Philharmonic, and Belgrade Philharmonic,
and continues to receive regular invitations from Munich Symphony, Bamberger Symphoniker
and Het Collectief (Belgium). Gregor also conducted the recording of the movie soundtrack of
"Das Kanu des Manitu" (Manitu's Canoe) by Ralf Wengenmayr with the German Film Orchestra
Babelsberg.
His conducting credits include many contemporary music ensembles, such as Hong Kong New
Music Ensemble, Austrian Ensemble for New Music (ÖENM), Ensemble Intercontemporain,
NAMES Ensemble Salzburg, Ensemble Ascolta (Stuttgart), Ensemble Kontraste (Nuremberg), and
the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic. He has also worked with renowned soloists
such as Daniil Trifonov, Khatia Buniatishvili, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Georg Nigl, Martin
Helmchen, Christoph and Julian Prégardien.
Mayrhofer served as assistant conductor to Kirill Petrenko and Sir Simon Rattle at the Berlin
Philharmonic, and has continued to assist Sir Simon with the London Symphony Orchestra,
notably on the production of Tristan in Aix-en-Provence. Further assistantships have taken him
to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Vienna State Opera, and from 2015 to 2017 to the
Ensemble Intercontemporain, where he made his conducting debut at the Paris Philharmonic in
2016, filling in for Pablo Heras-Casado at short notice.
As a composer, Mayrhofer's music has been performed by the Bavarian State Opera, the
Bavarian Radio, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Cologne Philharmonic, the
Residentie Orkest Den Haague, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Arctic Philharmonic, the
Asasello Quartet, and the Schwetzingen Festival. He has received further commissions from the
Munich Biennale, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hanover State Opera, and the Tyrolean Festival
Erl, among others. In 2023, Mayrhofer was nominated in six different categories of the Opus
Klassik awards for both his conducting and composition. His work Recycling Concerto, in
particular, was highlighted among these nominations.
Mayrhofer studied conducting at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York with Alan Gilbert,
and pursued composition studies at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts (with
Jan Müller-Wieland), the Paris Conservatoire (with Frédéric Durieux), and the Robert Schumann
Academy in Düsseldorf (composition with Manfred Trojahn and conducting with Rüdiger Bohn).
As a pianist, he performs with his brother Raphael in the jazz duo Imbrothersation.
September 2025
