Conductor, soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue, Christoph Poppen has made a name for himself in the international musical scene. As the new Music Director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta, he is devoted to the artistic development of the orchestra, bringing inspiring and innovative programmes to the Hong Kong community, in collaboration with Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie and Associate Conductor Vivian Ip.
On the occasion of the orchestra’s 2023-2024 season, we had the chance to discuss with him about his musical journey from violinist to conductor, professor, and music director. He shared with us how he is enjoying his time at Hong Kong Sinfonietta, while nurturing the public interest in classical music in Hong Kong.
Born in 1956 in Münster, Germany, Christoph Poppen started his musical journey as a prize-winning violinist, but was always interested in the complete score of a piece, so the desire to become a conductor grew naturally on him.
“While as a violinist you must primarily focus on the part which you play, it is fascinating for me, as a conductor, to be responsible for every little note in the big orchestra score. And I have always enjoyed working with people. It seems to be a part of my personality, I like taking responsibility for a group of human beings. I started to conduct when I was 28 and it took me a few years to find out that this is even more challenging for me than playing the violin”, Poppen recounts.

Christoph Poppen with his violin teacher’s wife Gustav Mikulai at his first prize winner concert (1966)
He started playing in a string quartet when he was 14 years old, and continued for nearly thirty years. Playing chamber music, not only in a quartet, was to him a key to understanding music and learning to take responsibility in an ensemble.
In 1978, he co-founded the Cherubini Quartet. Then he was appointed Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. From 1989 to 1995, he was the conductor of the chamber orchestra Detmolder Kammerorchester, then President of the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin until 2000.
Between 1995 and 2006, Poppen was Artistic Director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, establishing the ensemble’s new profile in a short period of time. His distinctive programmes often contrasted classical and contemporary styles with numerous commissioned works.

Christoph Poppen at the Saar Music Festival with soloist Juliane Banse, German Radio Philharmonic and Korean National Choir (2009)
In 2006, he was appointed Music Director of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken, and between 2007and 2011, he was Music Director of the newly formed Deutsche Radio Philharmonie.
He has appeared with multiple orchestras around the world, such as Vienna Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Indianapolis Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is also Principal Conductor of Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of Marvão International Music Festival in Portugal.
Between 2015 and 2023, Poppen was Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Principal Guest Conductor, presenting to the Hong Kong audience a rich repertoire ranging from Austro-German masterpieces to contemporary works, and also bringing the orchestra on tour to Germany and Portugal.
Filled with gratitude, Poppen recalls that the milestones in his life are certainly the great personalities he met and worked with: “My teachers, Nathan Milstein, Oscar Shumsky, Sandor Végh, the Amadeus Quartet, Sir Colin Davis, Jorma Panula, Claudio Abbado, or also great personalities with whom I was privileged to share the stage, like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza, Kathleen Battle, András Schiff, Mstislav Rostropovich, just to name a few“.
When asked what attracted him to work with Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Poppen explains, “Hong Kong Sinfonietta has always been a wonderful orchestra, but with an amazing potential to grow. I think every time I work with the orchestra, they play better than the time before. Being a part of this process is very fulfilling”. He also adds with joy, “the orchestra is full of very nice musicians, I enjoy their company tremendously”.
To plan the concerts and to select repertoires and programmes, Poppen always has in mind which impressions, emotions, and energies the audience will bring home after the concerts.
“We try to offer our audience a wide and colourful programme. As well for the orchestra, it is important to feel at home in different centuries, from Baroque and classical music up to our times. But everything must be balanced, and I’m spending a lot of time thinking about the structure and order of every single programme”, he explains.
Poppen consistently ensures to balance his artistic vision with orchestral needs, and he likes to compare rehearsing with the musicians to working in a garden.
“The gardener must start with very basic things, but at the end, it is a question of a million details, until every flower blossoms at the right place at the right moment. Musical rehearsals are similar. We start with basic coordination and work more and more on details like balance, phrasing, articulation, rhythmical freedom, colours, personal expression, and so on”, he develops.
And like a gardener, Poppen is pouring his heart into cultivating Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s artistic level and profile.
“There is no limit in artistic growing. I see my responsibility in accompanying the orchestra on this exciting journey, becoming even stronger by getting more and more versatile and, at the same time, more personal. And of course, we will continue accepting even greater responsibility in Hong Kong, and presenting this wonderful orchestra even more to the rest of the world”.
But most importantly, Poppen strongly believes that in an instable and fragile world, music is one of the greatest and strongest energies we may rely on. “It is our responsibility to share this with as many people as possible”, he concludes.
Don’t miss the highlights of Christoph Poppen this season, such as the Asian première of William Kentridge’s Oh, To Believe In Another World (18 and 19 November), Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with WDR Rundfunkchor Köln (1 and 2 December), or his brand new Maestro’s Insights concert series in early 2024.
More details on https://hksl.org
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