Patrick Hahn replaces Riccardo Minasi in 'Der Freischütz'

Due to medical reasons, maestro Riccardo Minasi had to withdraw from all engagements in May and June 2022, including the new production of Der Freischütz at Dutch National Opera. Together with our colleagues from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra we are very sorry about this news.

The Austrian conductor Patrick Hahn will take over the musical direction of Der Freischütz. Der Freischütz offers a wonderful opportunity for our first collaboration by making special use of Patrick’s experience as a composer, pianist and arranger will be of great use in this new production. That is, instead of using the opera’s original dialogues, stage director Kirill Serebrennikov has written a new play around Weber’s composition, in which music from Tom Waits’ The Black Rider will also be incorporated. Patrick Hahn’s versatility will play a vital role in realising this newly created concept.

Patrick Hahn, who is currently in his first season as General Music Director of the Wuppertaler Bühnen und Sinfonieorchester, is the youngest General Music Director in Germany. He is also Principal Guest Conductor with Münchner Rundfunkorchester and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, and is making an exciting career with performances with leading orchestras such as the Wiener Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, DSO Berlin and London Philharmonic. An extremely talented and versatile musician, he is also active in opera conducting at the opera houses of Frankfurt, Hamburg, Zürich and Tokyo.

We wish Riccardo a prompt recovery and hope to be able to welcome him back to Amsterdam soon. We are also very grateful to Patrick Hahn for making himself available for this production.