Conductor

Pianist

Politics and the private sphere collide fatally in Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra: The title character, elected by the people as Doge of Genoa, pays with his life for the bitter game of love and power. Thanks in part to his librettist, Arrigo Boito, Verdi succeeded in creating a predominantly somber yet highly fascinating tableau of light and shadow in his 1881 revision of the work. Boccanegra's desperate cry for peace, echoing the words of the poet Petrarch, becomes a timeless plea – and the shimmering sea captured by the orchestra becomes a symbol of hope.

Visiting Budapest

Müpa Budapest

Politics and the private sphere collide fatally in Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra: The title character, elected Doge of Genoa by the people, pays with his life for the bitter game of love and power. Thanks in part to his librettist, Arrigo Boito, Verdi succeeded in revising the work in 1881 in creating a predominantly somber yet highly fascinating tableau of light and shadow. Boccanegra's desperate cry for peace, echoing the words of the poet Petrarch, becomes a timeless plea – and the shimmering sea, captured by the orchestra, becomes a symbol of hope.

Simon Boccanegra

Prinzregententheater

"I want to nourish the soul," said Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, whose birthday the Munich Radio Orchestra is celebrating with works as diverse as a mass and the violin concerto "Distant Light." These works shed light on Vasks's thinking—the coexistence of nature and humanity, the sense of beauty, and the impending moral destruction of the world. His themes are rooted in his upbringing, having grown up in a country that was able to cast off its shackles nonviolently in a "Singing Revolution."

Peteris Vasks

Sacred Heart Church Munich

With Tristan und Isolde, Richard Wagner created his most radical and most sensual opera. Two lovers are drawn into a whirlwind of desire and passion. Their only possible salvation is death. Wagner wrote a timeless, eternal “infinite melody,” or “infinite melody,” that would forever irrevocably change the course of music history.

Tristan and Isolde

Oper Leipzig

Clemens loves music – but how do you dance to it? Luckily, there are the amazing dancers from the Ottobrunn Ballet School! Together, they discover how sounds transform into movement. Whether elegant, wild, or fun – the dance floor comes alive to the music of string instruments and piano. Join in, let yourself be swept away – and you'll surely find yourself dancing along by the end!

Dance with me!

Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz

"Katja and Ivan" – that's Ivan Repušić, Chief Conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, and his wife Katja, a pianist and professor in Split. Together with string players from the radio orchestra, they open the doors of their very own salon. Brahms' almost symphonic piano quintet will be accompanied by, among other things, five cheerful and charming miniatures by Shostakovich, based on film and stage music. Katja and Ivan's compatriot Boris Papandopulo sends greetings from their shared homeland of Croatia in the form of his "Papandopulijada."

Salon Katja and Ivan

Violetta Valery, living in kept splendour at the expense of Baron Douphol, has apparently recovered from a serious illness. To celebrate, she throws a party where she meets and falls for Alfredo Germont. As their love for each other is frowned upon, they set up house outside of Paris. Alfredo’s father insists that she break with his son in order not to jeopardise the marriage prospects of Alfredo’s sister. Violetta accedes to his wish and cuts off relations. In a showdown at another party Violetta tries to convince Alfredo that she’s in love with the Baron, causing Alfredo to hurl his gambling winnings at her feet, calling them “fees for services rendered”. Soon afterwards, at the height of the Paris carnival, Violetta is on her deathbed. She receives Alfredo, who has heard from his father her real reason for leaving him. Violetta forgives him, gives him her blessing and dies.

La traviata

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Flying Dutchman navigates the earth, accursed, tirelessly searching for salvation. But he can only find deliverance if he finds a woman who will promise to be faithful to him, even in death. Wagner’s atmospheric thriller encompasses the search for home and the desire for another.

The Flying Dutchman

The New Year's Eve gala, under the direction of Chief Conductor Ivan Repušić, with its rich vocal sensibility from the world of opera, has become a tradition at the Munich Radio Orchestra. This year, soprano Elsa Dreisig and tenor Matteo Ivan Rašić will be joining the cast. Naturally, they'll also be performing arias by Mozart, who inspired the renowned French-Danish singer to pursue a professional career. Matteo Ivan Rašić, winner of the 2024 Otto Edelmann Singing Competition and member of the Gärtnerplatztheater ensemble, will complement the program with tenor highlights from opera and operetta!

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New Year's Eve Gala

Munich Residence

On December 10, 1895, the “Club La Bohème” met for the first time. The club – an irreverent artist's guild of literary types and painters – reminded Giacomo Puccini of his years both as a student and as a bohémien. While his friends drank wine and played cards, Puccini composed. One day, he suddenly cried out from his spot at the piano "Quiet, boys! I've finished!" Shortly thereafter, the full score of this legendary opera was finished, and the show, with its wonderful love story between Mimi and Rodolfo, was on stage. Without ever visiting Paris, Puccini captured the city's atmosphere, from the flair of its cafes to the bleak frost of a winter's day. His clear characterization of the opera's protagonists and their sense of emptiness sets the characterizations of desperation and loss, not to mention the opera's central theme of love. In the end the characters are even more lost, in doubt and alone.

La Bohème

Welcome to the mysterious fairy-tale world of the »Magic Flute«! Even the names of the characters sound magical and remind us of our first visits to the opera: Tamino, Pamina, Papageno, Sarastro … Hardly any other work of opera literature includes so many contradictory elements, so harmoniously combined into a coherent entity by Mozart's music. Is his arguably most popular opera an adventure story about growing up? A parable of wisdom, philosophy and friendship? Is it simply about staying true to oneself, like the bird catcher Papageno? He accompanies Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with a picture of the kidnapped Pamina and plans to free her. We are reminded that the world cannot always be divided into good and evil: the Queen of the Night and Sarastro illustrate this to us through their quarrel over Pamina. On our journey we are also accompanied by three ladies, three boys, a glockenspiel, and a flute that tames even the wildest animals.

The Magic Flute

Landscape paintings with a pianist. Framed by shimmering postcard images from Italy and Croatia, the still astonishingly youthful Alexander Malofeev will present one of the most popular and brilliant piano concertos of the Romantic era, whose legendary opening chords are known to everyone. In 2022, Malofeev stepped in for his ailing colleague Yevgeny Kissin with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff's formidably difficult Piano Concerto No. 3; he was just 20 years old at the time. Now he returns with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, another work for the consummate virtuoso soloist – though Malofeev avoids every cliché at the piano, always prioritizing refinement over pathos. With meticulous brushstrokes, he paints the landscapes that Croatian conductor Ivan Repušić has grouped around the Tchaikovsky lighthouse. These are the vivid depictions of Roman nature and folklore by Respighi and Tchaikovsky, as well as those "Sunny Fields" to which the Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa dedicated a brilliant, sonorous symphonic poem in 1917.

Pines of Rome

Alte Oper

There is hardly another work that goes all out right from the start: Tchaikovsky's intoxicating Piano Concerto in B-flat minor is immediately at full throttle – with a striking orchestral tutti and massive piano chords that demand steely precision from the pianist. Incredibly, his teacher wanted to give him a good dressing-down for this concerto. "Perhaps one or two pages are worth saving, the rest must be destroyed," was his verdict. It's fortunate the composer didn't heed his advice, otherwise one of the most beloved and brilliant Romantic piano concertos would no longer exist. But as it is, you can experience it in this concert, with the young keyboard virtuoso Alexander Malofeev, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and conductor Ivan Repušić. Speaking of the "world": Peter Tchaikovsky was well-versed in it, having traveled extensively in his time – including to Italy, where he collected Italian folk music and transformed it in his own unique way into a lively orchestral piece: his "Capriccio italien." And those who know their way around, like him, pronounce "italien" in the French way!

Dream of Tchaikovsky

Rigoletto has nothing left to laugh about: As court jester to the notorious womaniser Duke of Mantua, he regularly mocks his master's numerous victims for the amusement of the court - until one day it is his own daughter Gilda who falls into the Duke's clutches. Inspired by Victor Hugo's drama "Le roi s'amuse", Verdi put a timeless opera classic on paper with "Rigoletto".

Rigoletto

Sir John Falstaff is a man who wants it all: money, power, women, pleasure – and control. But in Giuseppe Verdi's opera, it is the women who call the shots. Alice Ford, Meg Page and Mrs Quickly confront Falstaff's audacity with wit and ingenuity, challenging an order that tries to force them into rigid roles and monotonous dreariness.

Falstaff

Rising from raging, fierce tempests of the sea stands a triumphant hero: Otello! The illustrious general is in love with the enchanting Desdemona. Against her father's will, she frees herself from the golden cage and now loves the man who dazzles so brilliantly amidst the splendor of society, yet remains so distant. As Jago takes the stage and plants seeds of doubt, jealousy begins to grow in Otello.

Otello

Following the Frankfurt concerts, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with Ivan Repušić will be appearing at the Beethovenfest Bonn. In addition to an overture by Dora Pejačević, the program includes the world premiere of a new work for violin, cello, piano and orchestra by the Catalan composer Ferran Cruixent, which was commissioned by the Beethovenfest, as well as Antonín Dvořák's 8th Symphony.

Beethovenfest Bonn

Theater Bonn Opera House

The Spanish royal court is gripped by an icy coldness: For reasons of politics, the heir to the throne, Don Carlo has lost his bride Elisabetta to his father, the Spanish king. The crown prince is also thwarted in his political ambitions. The king, on the other hand, is powerless against the fiercely devout Grand Inquisitor. It seems that only Carlos’s friend Rodrigo can break free of these political and private constraints. But his bold dream of freedom leads to catastrophe. Giuseppe Verdi explores his great theme, the incompatibility of politics and private happiness, through almost all the characters in this opera, which premiered in 1867. For modern audiences it paints an oppressively topical social panorama. In cooperation with the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Semperoper presents »Don Carlo« in the four-act Italian version of 1884, supplemented by a new instrumental prologue by composer Manfred Trojahn, which sets up the background to the drama.

Don Carlo

Semperoper Dresden

Ivan Repušić has shaped the Munich Radio Orchestra as its chief conductor since 2017. Before his departure at the end of the season, the shared successes deserve a fitting celebration – with a concert, of course! The evening will be enriched by musical contributions from important collaborators, including the Bavarian Radio Choir and the artists in residence of recent years. Ivan Repušić will certainly return to the Radio Orchestra at some point in the future.

Conductor, Pianist

Ivan Repušić

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 7, 2025 - May 24, 2026

The Magic Flute · Oper Leipzig

Jun 10, 2026

Ivan Repušić & Friends · Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Past events

May 2, 2026

Visiting Budapest · Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Apr 26, 2026

Simon Boccanegra · Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in La traviata by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Piano Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Otello by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Conductor in Simon Boccanegra by Verdi

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in La bohème by Puccini

Oper Leipzig

Conductor in The Magic Flute by Mozart

Oper Leipzig

Conductor in Tristan and Isolde by Wagner

Oper Leipzig

Piano in Piano Quintet in F minor by Brahms

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Rigoletto by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Conductor in The Flying Dutchman by Wagner

Oper Leipzig

Conductor in Don Carlos by Verdi

Semperoper Dresden

Conductor in Pini di Roma by Respighi

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Italian Capriccio by Tchaikovsky

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Falstaff by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Piano in Five pieces for two violins and piano by Shostakovich

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Piano in Papandopulijada by Papandopulo

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Pater noster by Vasks

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Da pacem, Domine by Pärt

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Missa for choir and string orchestra by Vasks

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Violin Concerto “Distant Light” by Vasks

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Conductor in Sunny Fields by Bersa

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

About

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